Amber
by BeeCityz
Summary: Didn't your mother ever tell you not to take rides from strangers? And if she did, were you even listening? AkuRoku; Contains yaoi, shonen ai, and potentially troublesome subject matter.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey, kid." The blonde turned his head to see a redhead cruising beside him in a powder blue Chevrolet, the convertible top down. "Come here for a second."

Roxas looked at the car for a moment, looked at the car's driver for a moment (and paid extra attention to the tear drop tattoos beneath his eyes which looked like they had been done in prison) and shook his head. "No thanks. I have to get home."

"Aw, come on, kid…What's your name?" The car sped up as the blonde sped up, the redheaded driver grinning like a maniac.

"I don't see why you need to know." Roxas glanced at him nervously before picking up his pace once more, mentally cursing himself for deciding to take the long way home. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, I'm trying to get rid of this thing." He gestured toward his car, which Roxas raised an unbelieving eyebrow at, and shrugged. "Its old and I hate it."

"Why on Earth would any sane human being want to get rid of a 1967 Chevy?" He asked. "And why don't you put an add in the paper or something?"

"I don't have the cash to put an add in the paper, kid. The damn economy means that the lower half can't afford luxuries such as putting adds in the paper and what not." He grinned again, which sent a chill down Roxas's spine. Quickly he glanced at the street sign on the intersection that he was coming to, and was relieved to find that he was only four blocks away from home.

Upon receiving no response, the redhead frowned and sped up so that he was a few feet ahead of Roxas. "Come on. Will you at least let me drive you around for a little while? I mean, how are you going to know if you want it if you have no idea how it runs?"

"I'm fourteen. I don't need a car." The response was short, and now Roxas's cerulean blue eyes were trained directly in front of him, not deviating from his path.

The redhead groaned. "Come _on_ kid. You have got to be the most stubborn person that I've ever met." He paused to wait for a response, but when he didn't get one he continued speaking. "Would you at least let me give you a ride home? Its hot, and from the looks of the way you keep looking up the road you've got a ways to go."

Roxas opened his mouth to say something, then just decided to give the redhead a rather incredulous look. They were both silent for a few moments, and the blonde took advantage of that time to consider the offer. It was incredibly hot, and every step made his backpack seem heavier. And it was a _really_ nice car, and depending on how much he liked it…

"How much are you asking?" He couldn't believe the words had actually come out of his mouth, but as they did, he felt his steps slowing. The redhead smirked.

"As much as you're willing to offer, kid."

Roxas mulled this over for a moment. He wasn't rich (for some reason his parents felt that it wasn't necessary for them to share their fortune with him) but he wasn't poor, either. His private school, college-prep uniform was a dead giveaway.

"Two grand."

"Oh! You're killing me here." The car came to a complete stop, as did Roxas, and he leaned against the fence of the closest house with an eyebrow raised. "You've gotta give me at least five."

"Three and a half. Final offer." Roxas grinned, shrugged. "I guess it just depends on how much you feel you need to get rid of it."

The redhead mulled this over for a moment before nodding. "Alright. Three and a half. Now, do you need a ride home in your new car, or are you content with walking?"

From the moment Roxas pushed himself up off the fence, threw his backpack in the back of the car, and jumped in the passenger's seat, he could hear his mother's voice screaming at him not to talk to, accept rides from, or take candy from strangers. Sure, there was a small part of him that felt really bad for going against everything he had ever been taught and, in fact, a little afraid. But that part was greatly outweighed in comparison to the elated feeling he got knowing that he was the proud new owner of a 1967 Chevy.

"I live on Pleasant View, in Seaside Estates." He told his driver as the car began moving again, grateful for the breeze that blew against his overheated body.

"Oh good God." The redhead muttered, shaking his head. "You attend _Lexington Preparatory School for Boys_, you live in the most wealthy planned community in the city…"

"What's wrong with that?" Roxas barked a little defensively, to which the redhead recoiled and held a hand up.

"Hey, will you relax? I'm just saying, what the hell is a rich kid like you doing walking around on the wrong side of town? Shouldn't you be at like, fencing club or something like that?"

"Fencing club was cancelled today." Roxas said matter-of-factly, holding his nose in the air. "I didn't feel like going straight home, so I decided to take the long way."

The redhead burst out in laughter, which proved to be contagious as Roxas soon joined him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Of course I'm kidding." The blonde said, snorting. "The only kids in my school who fence are those who have some rich stereotype to live up to. Everyone else is too preoccupied with being normal."

"I'm Axel, by the way." The redhead said, sticking out his hand. Roxas took it cautiously and smiled.

"Roxas."

"Well Roxas." Axel began. "Do you listen to music?"

"Of course I listen to music." Roxas answered as though the answer was completely obvious, giving Axel a look that said he should've known that answer already.

"Do you want to put the radio on?" The redhead suggested, and immediately Roxas's hand was fumbling with the old AM dials, trying to find the number that corresponded with his favorite station.

"I know its old, but if you need any help I guess I could try to figure it out…" But just as the words exited his mouth, the car was filled with the loud voice of Clem Curtis, _Build Me Up Buttercup_ ringing in their ears.

"Got it." Roxas said a little smugly, leaning back against the seat.

"A sixties station? Seriously?"

"'Why do you build me up, Buttercup baby just to let me down?'" The blonde sang, grinning. "I love this song."

Axel shook his head and chuckled, shrugging. "Whatever. Do you mind if I put the cover down? I'm getting kind of cold."

Glancing around, Roxas noticed that the sun was already setting and that the smothering heat they had experienced during the day time hours was quickly fading. And that they were about five miles past where they should've turned for his house.

"Yeah go ahead…um…aren't we supposed to be going to my house?" He chuckled nervously, glancing around once more. However, Axel was silent. The only sound between them for a few moments was that of the windows rolling up and the cover coming down over their heads.

"Axel." Roxas gave the redhead a serious look, for the first time the sour bile of fear constricting his throat. "Where are you taking me?"

"Roxas…" Axel sighed, smiling softly and shaking his head again. "Didn't you mother ever tell you not to accept rides from strangers?"

The blonde choked, unbelieving of what he had just heard. Could he really have let this happen? Was this _really_ happening? "Take me home." He gave the redhead a desperate, pleading look and clutched onto his arm. "Axel, you've got to take me home."

Axel tossed Roxas into the passenger door of the car, which had been locked as soon as the windows had gone up. "You'll get home. Don't start freaking out."

"But…" The confusion was evident in Roxas's voice and his expression at these words, and he shook his head. "But you missed the turn for my house like, a few miles ago."

"I said you're getting home. I never said you're getting home _today_. When you return his entirely up to your parents." His expression was blank as he turned onto an exit that led to the local strip mall, as soon enough they were in the parking lot of a department store.

"Take me home, _please_." Roxas whispered desperately, tears filling up his eyes, making his vision blurry.

Axel ignored him, but once he turned the car off he faced Roxas and sighed. "What size are you?"

"Take me home."

"What size are you?"

"_Take me home_."

It didn't seem like more than a second before the blonde found himself being pinned against the side of the car, Axel's lips at the shell of his ear. "I'm not going to take you home, alright?" He hissed. "Now tell me what size you are so that I can get you some different clothes that no one will recognize." As he pulled away he placed a kiss on the blonde's cheek, and Roxas could feel his smirk.

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, a sob tore through his throat instead of the words he was looking for. Axel looked at him impatiently for a moment, and the blank look in his emerald eyes was enough motivation to force a response from his captive. Everything had happened so quickly. He almost couldn't believe that this was really, actually happening to him. This was the kind of stuff you heard about, not the kind of stuff you experienced.

"I'm a z-zero." He choked out. When Axel laughed, he felt like stabbing the creep with something very sharp and very painful.

"Wow, kid. You are really tiny." With that he opened the door and started to get out, but just as Roxas was forming a plan for escape, he turned with an 'oh.'

"I almost forgot. If you try anything, I'll hunt you down and kill you. And maybe you're family can join the fun to." He chuckled innocently and slammed the door shut, and Roxas heard the doors lock as his captor waltzed carelessly into the store.


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas blinked his eyes open and was greeted with a serious headache and all too bright sunlight streaming through windows that he didn't recognize. He groaned, wanting to sit up but knowing that when he did his head would probably start spinning.

He turned over to lay on his back and sighed, glanced around. He was in a motel, and a dingy one at that. The curtains (which matched the comforter that he was laying underneath) had a disgusting floral pattern decorating them. The carpet looked like it had much the same pattern except with inverted colors, and the entire room smelled like sex and cigarette smoke.

The small room looked like it was divided into three sections; when you first opened the door, you were greeted with two beds separated by and end table and a closet on the far side of the room. Moving through that, you entered into a room that was furnished with a round table, four chairs, a couch, and a television set. Then, lastly, was a small kitchen area that led into the full bathroom. All of it with that same ugly floral pattern decorating nearly everything.

The blonde groaned and buried his face in the pillow to his right, shut his eyes tight, drawing his knees up to his chest. He felt like he was going to be sick. Judging by the fact that there was daylight streaming in through the windows, he guessed that he had been with that redheaded creep for at least twelve hours. So his family _must_ have noticed him missing by now.

"Hey, kid." Ah, speak of the devil. Roxas frowned and stayed unmoving, trying keep his breathing even. With any luck he would be able to convince this guy that he was asleep and escape through the window or something.

However, just as the perfect plan was beginning to hatch in his mind, he felt an extra weight added to his bed and a firm (almost painful) hand on his shoulder. "Hey, kid, I know you're awake, so unless you want your ass to hurt as much as your head does, I suggest you look at me."

Slowly, reluctantly, Roxas turned his head to face his captor and opened his eyes. "What do you want?"

Axel smiled at sat up, crossing his arms. "Now, is that anyway to say good morning?"

Roxas just glared at him, not responding. After a moment or two of silence between them, Axel shrugged and got off the bed. He walked around to his bed on the right, which faced Roxas, and sat down. "I just wanted to let you know that before you come up with anything crazy, trying to escape would be completely useless."

"And why is that?" The blonde sneered, sitting up slowly as to prevent his head from taking some sort of roller coaster ride. "Are you going to try to fill my head with some shit about my family not wanting me anymore or something like that?"

Axel shook his head, shrugging. "No, I wasn't planning on it. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure they've noticed you missing by now, and are probably pretty freaked out. They might've even called the cops." He grinned. "No, escape would be useless because right now, we're about…eh, I'd say a good five hundred miles away from your house."

Roxas looked at Axel and blinked. He had to admit; he had thought that something like this would happen. Axel wasn't a complete idiot, and he definitely wouldn't be stupid enough to keep Roxas local. The last road sign he remembered seeing was one for 'You are now exiting California…' and after that he didn't remember much, given that he had passed out. Or, more likely, been knocked out.

"What state are we in?" He muttered, his voice hoarse.

Axel chuckled. "Why on Earth would I tell you that? So you can form an escape plan and/or call the cops? No way, kid. All you need to know is that we are far, far away from home. I've taken you somewhere where no one will think to look."

Roxas snorted. "Please. Before you know it, there'll be cops on your ass so fast that you won't be able to run fast enough. I'll be back at home by dinner time." He gave Axel the most smug, proud look he could muster. However, it didn't do anything to affect the redhead.

"Then how come you're still here?" He asked, grinning. "I'll make you a bet, Roxas. I'll keep you here, and if your family doesn't--"

He was cut of as some annoying jingle began emitting from his phone. Glancing down, he grabbed it out of his pocket and check the caller ID. "Will you excuse me for a moment?" He asked politely, standing up. "I have to take this. Don't try anything stupid."

He flipped the phone open and walked into the pseudo living room, Roxas's eyes following him the entire way. How dare that lowlife accuse his parents of not caring about him! Roxas drew his knees up to his chest once more, glaring daggers at the older man's back. Either he was going to escape or Axel was going to have to die, but one way or the other, he would break free.

His brooding was quickly interrupted, however, when Axel stopped his mid-conversation pacing and froze next to the couch. "_What_ did you just say to me?"

There was a pause, and Roxas swallowed loudly. That reaction definitely wasn't a good one, and despite how much the blonde hated to admit it, he was deathly afraid of the redhead.

"No, no, no. It doesn't _work_ that way, Reno. _I_ did the only difficult part! All you guys had to do was call up the parents, give them the figures, and meet me here. You don't just decide that you _don't want to_." Another pause. Axel's free hand had begun clenching and unclenching, and Roxas tried to calmly weigh the odds of his captor's anger being taken out on him. The numbers weren't in his favor.

"Fuck you, asshole!" Axel yelled in the phone, and Roxas cringed away from him. "Fuck you, and fuck Hayner, and fuck Pence! You can all go to Hell for all I care. But you know what, when and _if_ the police even get their hands on my ass, don't think I'm not rolling over on you assholes. If I'm going down, you're going down with me."

With that he slammed the phone shut, and Roxas saw him bury his face in his hands. He was breathing heavily, his posture just _screamed_ pissed off, and his was clutching his phone so tightly in one hand that his knuckles were white.

Roxas wanted to do several things at once. He wanted to beg Axel not to hurt him, he wanted to run away, he wanted to disappear. Of those three, he could only see one that might have a potentially positive outcome. Slowly, he crawled out of bed (and noticed that he was wearing only his boxers. How that happened, he was unsure) and walked over to the small threshold separating the bedroom with the living room.

"Please…" He murmured softly, not even daring to look at Axel. He heard the redhead turn around at the sound of his voice, but otherwise made no move. "Please, whatever this is…"

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself to finish his sentence, but the air was knocked out of him almost immediately when he was shoved back against a wall. Axel was pinning him against it, and the blonde had to be a good six inches off the ground.

"You know something, kid?" He growled low in Roxas's ear. "If it wasn't for you and your filthy rich family, I wouldn't even _be_ in this mess."

Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but ended up just gasping for air. For some reason, this clearly upset Axel. Before the blonde really had a chance to register what was going on, his boxers had been torn roughly from his hips and a searing pain in his ass became known immediately.

He cried out, which earned him a rough bite on the neck from Axel (he was sure that it had drawn blood). Instead, he took to whimpering as the kidnapper's huge cock was thrust inside of him repeatedly, his most personal space violated.

Axel's fingernails raked down his chest, leaving large, red welts in their wake. His teeth played with Roxas's neck excessively, and hardly in a pleasurable way. By the time the redhead released inside of his victim with a satisfied sight, Roxas was bleeding from at least three different places and a cornucopia of bruises and scratches decorated his body.

"Let this serve as a lesson to you, _Roxas_." Axel hissed in his ear after he had pulled out of Roxas and tucked himself back into his pants. "You won't beg, unless I tell you to. And you will under no circumstances involve yourself in what I'm doing. Got it memorized?"

The blonde barely registered that Axel had been talking to him, least of all heard what he had said. He didn't realize that he was crying until he moved to cover his face with his hands and felt the salty tears sliding down his cheeks. He was gasping for breath, his sticky with blood and the other's sweat.

Upon not receiving a response, the back of Axel's hand came down across Roxas's cheek with a loud crack, and Roxas cried out. "Answer me!"

"Yes, I've got in memorized!" Roxas yelled, sinking down against the wall, sobbing and bleeding and wishing he could either kill Axel or kill himself. His shoulders slumped over as the tears fell from his eyes onto his knees, and across the room he could see the strips of fabric that, once upon a time, had been his underwear.

Axel chuckled and knelt down, slid a finger underneath his captive's chin, and titled his face up to look at him. "Good boy." He murmured, placed a gentle kiss on Roxas's forehead. "Now do what I tell you, and maybe I'll be a little more inclined to be nice to you. Okay?"

Roxas closed his eyes and slowly tried to gain control of his breathing, his sobs quieting until his tears began to fall silently from his eyes. He nodded slowly, refusing to meet the other's emerald gaze. "Okay."

Axel stood up and walked back into the living room, leaving Roxas on the floor of the motel room. Not long afterwards, the blonde heard the sound of the evening news flowing through the small apartment. He listened to Katie Couric's voice tell him how the economy was getting better and worse at the same time, how a few people died in the Middle East today. He heard Axel get up and go to the bathroom at one point during the show.

After a while, he worked up the strength to slowly crawl back over to his bed, stand up, and climb under the sheets. He turned his back to Axel and the living room, buried his face in one of the odiferous pillows, and cried as quietly as he could manage. From that point on and until he fell asleep, only one thought was constant in his mind; he had to escape.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay. So...there's a little bit of rape in this chapter. ^^; Erm...yeah. It might not be very good, but it's going to get better. (coughcoughHINTHINTcoughcough). I'm probably going to be turning out chapters for this pretty quickly, because this story has been plaguing my mind for a few MONTHS. xD And I PROMISE there will be shonen ai coming. It might take a few chapters, but it wouldn't be real AkuRoku without fluff. ^^ R&R, please!!!

~Sara


	3. Chapter 3

_"Roxas!" Namine opened her arms in a wide hug, which quickly enveloped her younger brother, and held him so tightly he thought he was going to stop breathing. "I'm so happy to finally have you home again." _

_"We've missed you so much, kiddo." His father chimed in, and Roxas beamed up at him. His mother just stood there smiling and crying, and for a moment he thought that she was going to have some sort emotional break-down. _

_"I'm really glad to be back. I missed you all so much." His throat constricted and tears stung his eyes, but he promised himself that he wouldn't cry. _

_"So fess up, little brother." Namine muttered, nudging Roxas gently. "What was it like? Living with that creep." _

--

"Wake up, I said!" Axel yelled, all but whipped a pillow at Roxas's head. The blonde opened his eyes and gasped, praying that he would magically disappear. He wasn't very lucky.

"Jesus Christ, kid." Axel muttered, shoving a cigarette in his mouth without lighting it. "You sleep like a damn rock."

Roxas groaned and buried his face in his pillow, and a muffled 'Leave me alone.' could just be distinguished. Axel, in response, frowned.

"No. Now get your lazy ass out of bed. We're leaving." Roxas blinked and rolled over on his side, giving the redhead a half curious, half hopeful expression.

"What do you mean, 'leaving'?"

"I mean we need to get out of here." Axel replied, rolling his eyes. He walked over to the small closet and pulled out a suitcase, began stuffing any article of clothing he found in it, be it his or Roxas's.

"Why?"

"Why should I tell you?" Just as the suitcase about reached its limit, Axel decided that he wanted to light his cigarette simultaneously zipping the case up. He groaned in frustration a few times before giving up on the suitcase and taking a long drag of his cancer stick.

Roxas blinked. "Where are we going?"

"Away from here."

"Is this even a smoking room?"

"Okay, look." Axel fixed Roxas with a leveling stare (which, in Roxas's opinion, was pretty damn scary) and let his cigarette hand limply in his mouth. "Get your ass out of bed, pick up your clothes that I _just bought for you_, put them in a suitcase, and be ready to leave."

Roxas opened his mouth to retort, but at that moment chose to shift his position and was reminded of the pain in his ass. He groaned, vivid memories of the previous night coming back to him in a rush, and nodded. "Okay."

Axel nodded. "Good." With that he resumed fighting with the suitcase.

--

An hour later, Roxas was washed, and dressed. He hadn't been fed the entire time he was with Axel, and his stomach was starting to complain loudly from the lack of sustenance, but having quickly learned his lesson he didn't dare say anything to the redhead.

Axel had ditched the Chevy in favor of a black Lexus. It wasn't anything special, but it was sleek and wasn't nearly as conspicuous 1967 powder blue Chevy. Also, the blonde noticed that his captor had less than elegantly replaced whatever the old plates had been with new, Michigan plates.

"Michigan?" Roxas muttered. He was being held uncomfortably close to Axel's side, the redhead's arms securely around his shoulders. Apparently, he had told the motel manager that Roxas was his oppressed lover trying to escape domineering parents. However, the blonde new just as well as the redhead that the reason was so that he wouldn't try to run away.

"Don't sound so surprised, kid." Axel muttered. "We're going to visit your dying grandmother."

"But don't you think my domineering parents might be there?" Roxas whispered, grinning. In response, Axel glared at him.

"Shut up. Just because you know the general area we're going to be doesn't mean you're going to be able to escape. Good luck if you can figure out the city."

They arrived at the car, and instead of popping the trunk to put their bags in, Axel led Roxas around to the passenger side of the car and opened the back door. He took Roxas's one bag from the blonde's hand and threw it in the car, along with his two.

"Get in the car." He commanded as soon as the door was shut. "If you try anything stupid, I swear to God I will mow you over with this thing."

"In the middle of a busy motel parking lot?" Roxas raised an eyebrow and smirked, but it didn't have quite the reaction he was looking for. Instead, Axel shrugged.

"Tell people it was an accident. You were being contrary, I was trying to catch up to you, and stomped on the gas pedal instead of the break. Oops."

Roxas swallowed, but still didn't get in the car. He knew he was probably pushing his luck, and he knew that he would probably have to pay for this later, but at that moment he didn't care. "What kind of a hostage is a dead one?"

"I said I'd mow you over." Axel answered simply, pausing before he climbed into the driver's side of the car. "I never said I'd kill you."

--

The ride was a long one. Wherever they had been, it was taking them a hell of a long time to get to Michigan. Roxas was slumped against the passenger side window, the soothing sounds of Chopin's Nocturnes serenading him to sleep (Axel had been too lazy to take the CD out and turn on the radio, and he told Roxas not to get his fingerprints all over everything).

Just as they merged onto I-80 entering Wyoming, Roxas was struck with another pang of hunger. He drew his knees up to his chest and groaned, and Axel glanced over him quickly after cutting off another driver.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked, a little less than sensitively. Roxas shook his head.

"Its nothing."

"I doubt that."

Roxas shook his head again. "Forget about it. I'm fine."

Axel snorted. "Kid, I'm giving you one last opportunity to tell me what's wrong with you. If you don't, you're going to have to wait until we get to Michigan to have it taken care of. Take your pick."

Roxas sighed and shrugged. "I'm hungry, I guess."

"You're hungry you guess?" Axel chuckled. "When's the last time you ate?"

Another shrug. "I don't know. A few days ago, I think."

Axel clicked his tongue. "Yeah, I guess I've been a little preoccupied…" They were both silent for a moment, and Roxas thought Axel wasn't going to do anything about it when the redhead spoke again.

"Do you like Burger King?"

Roxas turned his head away from the window and looked at Axel, who had his eyes fixed on the road but was periodically glancing at his blonde captive. "I guess so. I'm not really big on fast food, but you know what they say. Beggars can't be choosers."

Axel nodded. "Alright. I'm not sure, but I think there's a Burger King or a Subway coming up here at the next stop. If there is, what do you want?"

Roxas blinked. Yeah, this behavior was slightly uncharacteristic of the kidnapper-gone-rapist, but he had only known the guy for three days. Who was he to judge? "If it's Burger King, I'd like a Whopper with fries and Mountain Dew, but if it's Subway I'd like a Subway Melt on Italian Herb and Cheese with American cheese and lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and banana peppers."

Axel glanced at the blonde with raised eyebrows and chuckled softly. "I'm sorry, could you be a little more specific? I didn't quite get what you were saying."

Roxas shrugged. "You asked me what I wanted, so I told you."

Axel snorted. "Alright. Whatever."

--

Once they were parked in front of the Subway that was indeed off the next exit, and grinned and leaned over to press his ears to the shell of Roxas's ear. "If you try anything," He whispered, grinning. "Well…you've been told this enough to know what I'll do to your family."

His lips traveled downward and he took the lobe of the blonde's ear between his teeth, teasing it gently. Roxas closed his eyes and exhaled, reminding himself who it was that was doing this to him (because he couldn't deny the fact that it felt good) and reminded himself that he was never let this _creep_ pleasure him.

"Okay." He whispered. He felt Axel grin, and soon enough he was out of the car and the doors were locked behind him.

Roxas sunk down low in the front seat, stretching his legs out into Axels' seat, closing his eyes. He hadn't seen his family in three days, two nights (in counting) except for in his dreams, and he didn't know when the next time would be when he did see them. He didn't know if he would be killed when he stopped being useful to Axel.

Without his consent, his body curled into a fetal position and he could feel salty tears rolling down his eyes. A soft series of whimpers broke from him throat, which eventually grew into full fledged sobs.

He didn't know how long he was curled up like that, but it must have been a while. His whimpers which had grown into sobs died back down into whimpers, and once he had quieted down significantly he felt a hot, very good smelling paper bag press against his face.

He blinked his eyes open with a soft gasp and looked up, and Axel was sitting at the driver's seat tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "If you're done with the water feature, I'd really like to get going."

Roxas just sat there for a moment, looking at him in shock (really wondering how the hell long he had been there and why he hadn't heard the car door open and why Axel hadn't said something about his crying) before sitting up and taking the bag.

"Thanks." He muttered, his voice hoarse. He pulled sub out of the bag and carefully unwrapped it and, surprise surprise, it was a Spicy Italian.

Roxas must've made some sort of sound, because Axel glanced over at him in mock surprise and smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh, my bad. You asked for a Subway Melt, didn't you? Ah…I must've been ordering for myself. Damn."

He took half of Roxas's sub and stuff it in his mouth, but the blonde just sighed and began eating. "You know what they say." He muttered in between mouthfuls. "Beggars can't be choosers."

* * *

**A/N**: Okay. I know that this was a really cheesy way to end the chapter. But I was watching Law and Order: SVU and I was kinda distracted. xD I know that this is just like, an uber filler chapter, but oh well. It had to happen, but it might as well be at the beginning. Urm...I don't know if I'm going to mention where they came from in later chapters, so I might as well tell you. Reno, Nevada baby. ;D  
**BTW!** Thank you guys sooo much for the awesome reviews. They mean soooooooo much to me, and its where I get half of my inspiration. xD So keep it up. I could really use the motivator. ;P Love you all!  
~Sara


	4. Chapter 4

"Anyway, as I was saying, he's a little sensitive to that word." Axel whispered, glanced back over at Roxas who was watching him with an irritated expression. The motel manager blinked and lowered his voice.

"So you mean to tell me that this boy right here is a…" He paused and glanced at Roxas, scratched his great big bald head, and continued. "A _homosexual_, and you want to make sure that he feels _comfortable_?"

Axel grinned and nodding approvingly. "Yes. You see, it's very important that he is comfortable. His parents, this poor kid…his parents made him sleep in a bed that had rocks and such underneath the mattress." He shook his head. "I got him just in time."

"Poor little bugar." The manager murmured. "I feel terrible for him. You two can just have the most comfortable room I've got, that's what I'll do for you. Room service is on me."

"Sir, you don't have to do that." Axel muttered hastily. "I mean, I don't have much but I don't want to rob you of your profit…"

"Son, how much money do you have in your wallet right now?"

"Um…" He pulled out the old, beaten up leather wallet and opened it, fishing through the bills. Idly, Roxas fingered the one hundred and eighty dollars that Axel had given him to keep hidden in his pocket.

"Twenty dollars?" The redhead chuckled nervously and shrugged. "I still don't want to take your money…"

"Kid, you and your little boyfriend can stay here as long as you like for free." The manager declared, slapping Axel on the shoulder. "Now, I don't want to here any complaining from you, you hear? My profits will be just fine, thank-you very much. Here's you key, now get yourself on up to your room."

After being handed the small plastic key card, Axel walked over and pulled Roxas up, taking him in a tight hug. The manager smiled at the two of them approvingly for a moment before disappearing again into his office, and once he was gone Axel released his captive and took him towards their room.

"Give me my money." He said, holding out his hand once they were a few feet away from the door. They were the third floor up (the highest floor available), last room on the left. By motel standards, it was probably considered a suite.

"You're disgusting." Roxas muttered as he took the money out and slapped it in Axel's hand. "Robbing perfectly good people of their money like that."

"Its what they deserve for believing me." Axel replied shortly, sticking the key in the slot and letting them into their room.

"You're cold."

"You just figured that out?"

Roxas snorted and shook his head, making his way into his new living quarters. Axel was right behind him, door closed and locked immediately, and he soon began doing an inspection to make sure that it wouldn't be easy for Roxas to escape.

"Make yourself comfortable." He said, tapping the locks on one of the windows. "We're probably going to be here for a while."

Roxas sighed and dropped his bag on the floor near the door, looking around. The room was definitely a nice one, and it was set up differently than their last. The first room you walked into when you walked in was the "living room." It featured a nice, flat screen TV, a leather couch, two windows on either side of the TV, and a coffee table between the TV and the couch.

What separated the two rooms was, like the last motel, only a low-hanging threshold. That led into a little more of a dining area, with a small round table and four chairs situated around it. There were two more windows in this room, in the same place that the living room windows were.

Two doors separated this room from the kitchen and the bedroom/bathroom. The door to the kitchen was open, Axel fishing through the drawers and making sure there was nothing in there that Roxas could hide and use to kill him later. For obvious reason, the blonde opted to inspect the bedroom.

He opened the door, looked around. It was a nice, very intimate room. Gold comforter, black furniture, not windows, dim lights. The bed was nice and big, probably a queen…

"Whoa, double-take." He muttered, his gaze sweeping over the room once more and its one bed. Not two; one for him and one for Axel. Just one lone bed for the both of them.

"Did you say something, kid?" Axel called, finally coming into the bedroom to expect every nook and cranny before deeming it impossible for Roxas to escape.

The blonde opened his mouth to respond, but no sound came out. Axel glanced down at him, waiting for a moment, then shrugged and continued looking around the room.

"Guess not."

Roxas blinked then shook his head. "There's only one bed."

Axel shrugged again, looking in the closet, dresser, and end tables before plopping down on the poofy sheets and grinning. "I don't see a problem. There's a lock on the door and no windows…" He laughed. "That way if I need something from you, you have no where to run."

Roxas blinked at him, stood there for a minute, then nodded and turned back to head into the living room. His bag was still sitting by the door, where he had left it, and quickly he walked over and removed his sketchbook and his pencils (that for some strange reason Axel had allowed him to keep).

He flipped to the first blank page he could find, which was quite a few pages back and near the end, and began putting his feelings on paper.

--

"And our last story tonight," Katie Couric said, blinking a couple _thousand_ times before she began speaking again.

"We all know Mr. Charles DuPont, owner and founder of First Mutual Life Insurance company. His office work has not only provided life insurance for some of the world's most famous deaths including Anna Nicole Smith and is currently insuring Playboy Hugh Heffner.

"Two days ago, Mr. DuPont's son, Roxas, was reported missing. Authorities have reason to believe that he was taken sometime between his departure from Lexington Preparatory School for Boys and his return to his home in Seaside Estates, a section of Belaire in Los Angeles, California. If anyone has any leads on the whereabouts of the young Mr. DuPont, please contact your local law enforcement agency. I'm Katie Couric with CBS news. Goodnight, everyone."

Roxas blinked, glancing up at Axel, who was sitting up on the couch, from his seat on the floor. The redhead was staring at the TV disbelievingly, and Roxas couldn't help but smirk.

"I told you they would be looking for me…" He whispered, returning to his drawing, which had somehow turned into a very detailed sketch of his sister.

Axel wasn't supposed to hear him. Roxas didn't know _how_ he heard him. He thought his voice had been quiet, but apparently it wasn't.

"Go to bed." Axel commanded, his voice monotone. Roxas glanced at the clock in the room, noticed that it was only seven thirty. In California, it was only five thirty. He was hardly tired.

"I'm not sleepy, though." He murmured. Immediately, Axel gave him a look that said he wouldn't be argued with.

He and Roxas stared each other down for a minute or two before Roxas gave up, and set his sketch book down with a sigh. He grabbed his bag from where it still sat next to the door, walked around the couch behind Axel, and went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.

--

For some reason he had been allowed to keep everything that he was kidnapped with, which wasn't very much to begin with. An iPod, his sketch book and pencils, his Advanced Geometry book, and his graphing calculator.

Roxas, being a big music lover, had a lot of music in his iPod. He was just working his way through his favorite Metric album, getting to his favorite part in "Gimme Sympathy," when the earphones were yanked roughly from his ears.

"I can't believe you have the audacity to play with your iPod right now." Axel hissed next to his ear. Roxas's breath caught in his throat and he shut his eyes tight, praying that a replay of last night's events wouldn't occur.

"What, nothing to say?" He chuckled. "Cat got your tongue?"

Roxas gulped again, and for fear of actually saying the wrong thing, just nodded his head.

"Aww, Roxy, I'm touched." He laughed again, and after the apparent humor had died down, he decided to position himself on top of his captive. "Now, you see, Roxas…" He sighed. "I just _really_ hate seeing stuff like that on TV. I'm sure you can probably imagine how troublesome it is for someone in my position to have to see that on the evening news that millions of people watch…"

Roxas nodded. "I'm sure its troubling."

Axel smiled down at him. "Yes. Now, unfortunately for you…I don't have anyone else to take my anger out on." He shrugged, still grinning. "I'd say I'm sorry, but you have a really tight ass so I get the feeling that I'm going to be enjoying this a lot more than you will."

Roxas looked at Axel with an almost crestfallen expression, desperately trying to think of something to say that would get him out of this.

"But…you…you don't seem angry." He muttered desperately. In response, Axel shrugged again.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, kid. You can usually tell how angry I am based on how _fake_ my kindness seems." He leaned down over Roxas once more and stopped when their noses were mere centimeters apart. "Seems pretty fake, huh?"

There was going to be no right answer to this question, and Roxas could see that immediately. If he said yes, Axel would get mad because Roxas was calling him a fake. If he said no, Axel would get mad because how _dare_ he accuse him of lying? So, he just shrugged.

"Heh…wrong answer."

With that, Axel ripped the blankets down off of Roxas, revealing that the blonde was wearing only a pair of boxers. "Jesus kid, is this all you sleep in?"

Without waiting for an answer, the article of clothing was quickly discarded, and the moment he was completely exposed, Roxas seemed to have found his voice. "Please…" His voice was shaky, and already he could feel tears threatening to spill over his eyes. Only three days, _three days_ and already he was a complete emotional wreck. Completely dependant on the actions of a bona fide psycho.

"Please…d-don't do th-this…"

Axel laughed, and in answer to Roxas's plea, nodded. "Alright." He moved and got off of Roxas, sat at the edge of the bed. "Get over here."

Roxas looked at the redhead, a little surprised, before yanking his boxers back up and sliding out of the bed to stand in front of Axel.

"On your knees." Axel ordered. The second he unbuttoned his jeans and yanked them down along with his boxers, Roxas knew exactly what he would have to do.

_Just a different kind of rape._ He thought, before kneeling before Axel and a face full of his cock.

"Suck." The command was the same, but for some reason it was far more devastating than it had been a few moments ago. Roxas whimpered, and his delay in action caused Axel to growl. "_Suck_."

Roxas whimpered again before he closed his eyes opened his mouth, and before he really had time to register what he was being made to do, he was deep-throating his captor. He gagged a little, but that didn't stop Axel from thrusting his hips into Roxas's mouth, one hand holding the blonde's head exactly where he wanted it.

Roxas's eyes started to water, and he was sure that he was going to choke on the redhead's dick. He whimpered again, which only gave Axel a reason to moan at the vibrations being sent through his body. "Good boy…" He purred, his hips stopping their motion for a moment.

Roxas pulled his head back in order to try to swallow the disgusting amount of saliva that was pooling in his mouth, but as soon as the though occurred to him Axel's hips were being forced against his face again.

He didn't know how long this continued on, but every second was one second longer than he wanted. It had to have been a good two to three minutes before he finally felt hot seed slide down his throat, and Axel sigh, satisfied at his release.

Roxas pulled away the second Axel let him go, choking and sobbing wishing that he had just let Axel fuck him because _anything_ had to be better than what he just endured.

"Hey, kid." Axel said, tucking himself back into his pants and buttoning up. "Grow some balls, will you? There's no fun doing this stuff if you're going to be a complete pussy afterwards."

Roxas didn't respond, just let the tears continue to roll down his cheeks and whimpers tear themselves from his chest. Axel watched him for a moment before shaking his head and moving to leave the room.

"You'd better get yourself together by the time I come to bed. I don't want to have to listen to you feel sorry for yourself all night while I try to get some shut eye. And believe you me, Roxas. My beauty sleep is _very_ important to me." With that, he shut the door.

Roxas watched the door for a few minutes after the redhead had left, his mind in a muddle. His mouth tasted like salt and blood, and it didn't surprise him due to how far Axel's cock was shoved down his throat.

Slowly, he crawled back over to the bed and climbed in, turning off the light, and throwing his iPod in the trash. He curled himself into a ball, crying himself to sleep, and for the first time since he had been kidnapped, honestly wished he would die.

* * *

**A/N:** Okay! Moar raep! xP I hope you guise like this chapeter. I worked REALLY HARD ON IT. It took me a whole hour! D Seriously though. You guise are awesome. I mean like...some of your reviews totally make my day. xD They're lovely. Urm...I actually need to ask everyone a question...should I include Xigbar in the story? I won't say what character he would be playing, but I need to know if he should be added. He wouldn't interfere at all with the AkuRoku-ness...just a little supporting role. ^^ Lemme know what you think! Lots of love!  
~Sara


	5. Chapter 5

They moved around a lot. After about a week or two of staying in the motel that Axel had conned them into, which Roxas later learned was in Petoskey, Michigan, he decided that they needed to move again.

"Too many people have seen my face." Was all he offered as an explanation, and Roxas didn't dare to speak up against him.

They did a lot of driving, as well. They went from the west to the east to central U.S. to the south to the southwest….a never-ending cycle of moving to keep from anybody recognizing them.

In one of the hotels where they were staying, Roxas had found a little plastic calendar. It was the kind that they gave you with the hotel's name on it and everything, and it was covered with a thin little layer of plastic to keep it water proofed.

The previous tenants of the room had left a small, indelible marker in one of the drawers. It was one of those mini Sharpies that had a little key ring on the cap that you could use to hang it on something. God forbid you should ever lose a three dollar Sharpie.

He decided that he would start marking off the days he was with Axel. He started with day one; June 20th. They had been about five days away from getting out of school, Roxas had finished all of his final exams, and was jazzed about taking his college-level classes the following year.

June 20th came, and June went out with it. July came, and July went. Then August…then September…then October…

By the time November rolled around, they had made their way to Nebraska. Axel had actually moved up a step and rented them a house; something a little more permanent, where they could live for a few months without people worrying about finding or recognizing them.

Roxas's parents still hadn't paid the ransom. He learned, sometime around the start of the new school year, that Axel had only asked for $500,000. To his parents, it would be nothing. Why they hadn't paid up, the blonde was still unsure.

He kept getting new clothes, and Axel even dyed his hair once (it grew out so fast that re-dying it was quickly abandoned). He was almost fifteen. He had missed his sister's birthday, he had missed his mother's birthday, and he had a feeling that he was going to miss Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The abuse continued, but it was less frequent than he thought it would be. Axel very rarely hit Roxas; really all of the damage that was done was either psychological or sexual. It didn't take Roxas very long to figure out that if he could just become void of emotion and stop defying Axel, then the only reason the redhead had to rape him was to satisfy his own sick pleasure.

All that Roxas ate was fast food and the occasional peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. All he had to drink was either beer or the disgusting tap water that came from the faucet, so a lot of times he ended up getting so severely dehydrated from wanting neither of the two that Axel forced _some_ form of liquid down his throat. It was, in essence, five and a half months of hell.

Roxas blinked out of his reminiscing, continued scribbling the day out on his little calendar. November 16th. Axel was in the living room, talking to someone on the phone, and the blonde frowned as his voice rose noticeably.

"Man, come _on_. You totally owe it to me." He paused, and Roxas sighed. It seemed that now, all that happened between the two of them that could actually be called interaction was Axel deciding that he needed to satisfy his pedophilic desires or Roxas asking for something to eat. As much as he hated his captor, it was pretty damn boring.

He settled back into the comfortable cushions of the couch, pulled his throw blanket up to his chin, and closed his eyes. He had run out of pages in his sketch book, so to prevent himself from going crazy with the thoughts and emotions bouncing around inside his head, he took to keeping a journal.

_I can't believe I'm still here_. He thought, burying his face in one of the sweet smelling pillows. _I don't know why my parents haven't paid the ransom yet. I don't know why Axel is even keeping me around, knowing that my parents probably won't pay the ransom. God that guy is so crazy…what I wouldn't give to have him randomly have a heart attack so I could go home. _

His brow furrowed, and he thought about the odds of the redhead just dropping dead one morning. After considering that for a moment, he continued on with his internal monologue.

_I've been here for like, six months. Seriously, Mom, Dad, you guys suck. I mean, I get that it's a little bit of money, but my God! Its like they don't even love me anymore. That damned redhead is the only one I've had to talk to for the last half year…how am I still sane? _

He stopped for a moment, then shook his head. _Never mind. Scratch that, I'm not sane. I mean, Jesus Christ. I'm talking to myself. _

He stopped the mental journaling for a moment, took a deep breath. He was starting to feel nauseous, and for a moment felt like he was going to pass out. This had been happening pretty frequently over the last couple of weeks, and the blonde attributed it to malnutrition.

He sat up slowly as to prevent his head from spinning, rubbed his eyes. He was starting to see white flashing across his vision, his body started to feel incredibly hot despite the fact that he was only wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts.

"Axel!" When he called out for his abductor, his voice sounded distant. Like it belonged to someone else. Definitely not a good sign.

"What do you want?" The reply, too, sounded very distant. The last thing Roxas wanted would be to pass out. In all likelihood, when he finally did wake up the first thing he'd probably see would be Axel on top of him shirtless and freeing himself of what he called "sexual frustration."

"I need a glass of water." Roxas answered. "And a cold rag. Please." He tried to make his voice as monotone as possible; tried not to let the redhead know exactly how much and how quickly he needed those things.

"Why?"

The blonde sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep his heart and breathing rates down. His head felt like it weight about five thousand pounds, and he decided that he wanted to lay down again. "I think I'm going to pass out."

He heard Axel groan and move from wherever he had been into the kitchen, heard the comforting sound of water being poured into a glass and then soaking up a kitchen towel. "What the hell is wrong with you, kid? It seems like all you do nowadays is pass out."

Roxas felt the cold towel hit his forehead, and immediately he started to feel better. "Maybe it's because you don't feed me good food, and so my body is lacking the vital nutrition that it needs."

Axel snorted and set Roxas's glass down on the coffee table beside the couch. "Whatever. Don't interrupt me again. I'm busy."

Roxas didn't reply, instead deciding that he was going to control his breathing and cool down. Axel didn't move for a few moments, presumably watching his captive (Roxas had his eyes closed so he had no way of knowing) before departing into one of the other rooms to finish whatever he had been doing that was so important.

"Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks for asking." The blonde murmured once he was by himself again. The predicament he was currently in just fascinated him. On one hand, he hated Axel with every ounce of his being. He wanted him to die, to arrested, get raped in prison, _whatever_. Just so long as he was as miserable as the blonde was. On the other hand, Roxas had been started for affection for almost half a year, and Axel was the only one who could give it to him.

_If only I hadn't accepted the ride…_He thought, sighing. _I wouldn't even be here_.

--

Roxas opened his eyes to a mostly dark room, lit only by a single lamp on a table and the TV picture. Axel was sitting on the end of the couch, his captive's feet uncomfortably close to his lap, blankly staring at the screen.

The blonde stretched and sat up, glancing around. "What time is it?" He asked, his voice thick from sleep.

Axel shrugged. "Around eight."

"What are you watching?"

"TV."

Roxas blinked, sighed, and got up. "Whatever. I'm going to go draw."

"No you're not."

He stopped, already halfway across the room, and looked at Axel curiously. "I'm not?"

"No. You're going to stay where I can see you. Right now, that just so happens to be in this room."

Roxas groaned. "Come _on_. I've been in this room all day."

"That's not my fault. Now stop arguing with me, or I'll make it so you can't leave this room for the next _three_ days." The redhead tore his gaze away from the TV to fix the blonde with a leveling stare, and soon enough Roxas was back and seated almost comfortably on the floor in front of the couch.

"Feeling a little paranoid today?" He murmured, raising an eyebrow at his captor. Axel chuckled.

"I'm sorry; I don't remember asking you to speak."

They were silent for a few moments, the sounds of the evening news echoing through the room, neither of them really watching it, before the less-than-comfortable silence was interrupted by a loud growl of protest from Roxas's stomach.

Axel looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, and the blonde could've sworn he saw a smile twitch at the corner of his lips. "Hungry?"

Roxas nodded slowly and shrugged, turning his gaze back to the TV. Axel continued to look at Roxas, before he chuckled and the smile that had been threatening to break out over his face escaped. "I ordered pizza about a half an hour ago. It should be here pretty soon."

Roxas snorted in surprise. "You? Order pizza? No way. That's like, _real_ food."

"Hey, kid, be thankful for what you've got, okay?" Axel glanced at the door and sighed, shaking his head. "Kids these days are so ungrateful."

Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but at that moment the annoying doorbell on their rental home/pseudo apartment thing rang. Axel stood up and walked over to the door, pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, and greeted the pizza boy politely.

Roxas watched the entire exchange with moderate interest, thinking back onto the first time he had met Axel. He had tried to the best of his ability to block that moment from his memory, but he remembered that the redhead had been nice. He had been polite…well-spoken…overly insistent.

Axel returned with a pizza box, set it down on the coffee table, and Roxas was on top of it immediately.

Axel gave him a few moments and watched as the blonde stuffed two pieces greedily down his throat (he was, after having only half a sandwich in three days, very hungry) before sitting down.

"You know kid…" Axel said, picking up a piece and starting to chew on the end. "If I were you, I'd get pretty used to our whole set up."

"And why is that?" Roxas asked, starting on his third piece of pizza. It was only then that he noticed it was with mushrooms, which he hated. Well, used to hate.

"Because your parents aren't going to bail you out." Roxas stopped with the pizza half way to his mouth, cast Axel a dark look.

"What makes you say that?"

The redhead laughed. "Please. You've been stuck with me for six months, your story's only been on the evening news once, and we haven't even made America's Most Wanted. I'm not letting you go until your parents pay, and they haven't paid…" He shrugged, letting the sentence hang in the air between them.

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"You keep telling yourself that, kid." Axel finished off his pizza and took a long swig of a bottle of beer that had appeared out of nowhere and shrugged again. "Just don't get your hopes up. The last thing I need is to have to deal with the depressed brat that you would turn into."

* * *

**A/N:** End of this chapter = EPIC FAIL. But anyway. I feel like this is another filler chapter. D8 We should be getting into some more interesting stuff soon...yes, Xigbar WILL make an appearance, and Demyx might as well. ;D The lovely, fluffy AkuRoku-ness that we all love will be coming in about four or five chapters...maybe more like seven or eight...xD I dunno. We'll see. However! I love all you guise who keep reviewing and stuff. Its awesome. You're all so nice. ^-^

~Sara


	6. Denial or Isolation

_This isn't happening. My parents love me, and this isn't happening._ Roxas closed his eyes tighter and curled into a ball. He hadn't gotten out of bed in three days and, surprisingly, Axel hadn't made him.

_I'm at home, in my own bed, with my own family, and THIS ISN'T HAPPENING. _He had gotten a sudden hit of reality that just about killed him. Axel was, for once, very right; he had been with him for six months, and nothing had changed. What his parents were doing waiting to pay, he didn't know. But they _hadn't paid_.

He whimpered softly and tried to curl closer in on himself, which was just about impossible at this point. His knees were up at his chin, his arms wrapped around his knees. Maybe, he thought, if he held the position long enough he could disappear altogether.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" Axel asked. He had insisted on talking to Roxas these last three days, and had gotten little response if any at all.

"I don't care."

"You smell. Go take a shower."

"No."

Axel snorted. "You had better get over this pretty quickly. It's freaking annoying."

Roxas rolled over on his back and sat up slowly, fixing Axel with a flat look. "My parents are coming for me. _They love me_."

"Okay, whatever. But while we're waiting for them, go take a shower. You're stinking up the whole room." Axel, Roxas noticed, was chewing on a piece of celery; a _vegetable_; something abnormally healthy for his captor. Not that he cared.

"There has to be some mistake…" The blonde murmured, ignoring the redhead. "They had to be in a position where they can't pay the ransom or something…I _know_ that they would under other circumstances…"

Axel groaned and walked (purposefully!) over to Roxas, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. This action was met with a mewl of protest, following a full fledged scream as Roxas was pulled across the room and thrown into the bathroom.

"I shouldn't have to tell you twice." Axel said, any ounce of kindness that had been in his expression or voice completely disappearing.

Roxas looked up at him, half in shock and half in disbelief. Axel ignored the look and shut the door, faintly the blonde heard it lock from the outside. "I'm not letting you out until I've heard the shower running for at least ten minutes. If you come out and your hair isn't wet, you're going straight back in. And the second time I'll supervise you."

Roxas sat on the tile floor for a few moments, blinking. Axel's outburst had been completely unforeseeable to him; he was being patient, and then he was so pissed off that he threw Roxas into the bathroom.

"Can you say 'bipolar'?" He murmured, standing up slowly. He glanced around, and after a few turns noticed two things; one, the shower had been in front of him the entire time. Two, that the bathroom was very, very small. There was a shower, toilet, and a sink, but the entire space had to be only 6x6.

"That's lovely." He said to himself, shook his head, and turned on the water in the shower. The moment the redhead heard it start up, he chuckled and walked away from the door.

"Good boy!" He called over the roar of the water, moved back into the living room and sat down in front of the couch. His laptop, however, held far more allure than the TV.

He picked it up and pulled it open, the screen immediately popping awake. He typed in his password quickly, a familiar collage of illegally obtained pictures of Roxas appearing all over his desktop background.

"Hello, beautiful." He muttered, double clicked on the Internet icon. "Why haven't your parents paid me yet?"

The Google home page popped up the moment the words had exited his lips, and not seconds after Axel was browsing through his Gmail® account, begging for a new email from his "connection."

"Damn it." He murmured, his eyes being met with only read emails. "Where are you, Xigbar?"

He glanced over his shoulder, confirming that the shower water was still running and that the little blonde hadn't somehow managed to get out of the bathroom without him knowing. The coast was clear, however, and he returned to typing away furiously on his small keyboard.

_Xigbar_, the email began. Enter, tab, capitalize. _Where the hell are you? I've been waiting for your goddamn response for five days. EMAIL ME ALREADY. I don't have this kind of time. Axel_

The redhead sighed and moved his mouse up to the address bar, clicking once and typing the address for America's Most Wanted website, checked the fugitives list. He was still in the clear.

"Thank God…" He breathed, letting his curser hover over the Missing Children link. He paused for a moment before double-clicking, hundreds of pictures flooding his screen.

He looked through the first ten, then the first twenty, then the first thirty, continuing on as far as he could go before his eyes started to hurt from the too-bright screen. After getting to number 154, however, and not seeing Roxas's picture, he was satisfied.

He smiled to himself and clicked the little 'x' on the top right hand of the screen, the Internet closing and letting him stare at pictures of his little blonde captive. It had taken a good three months for him to accumulate all of those pictures…all of the information that he had needed.

He had followed Roxas, hired people to follow Roxas, and learned everything about the blonde and his family that he could. And had it paid off? No.

"All that hard work for nothing." He said to himself, eyes wandering over pictures of Roxas with his friends, pictures of Roxas walking home…

He stared at the screen for a few more moments before clearing his throat, closing his laptop, and turning on the TV. The shower water was still running, so he kicked his feet up on the coffee table and indulged in a short episode of Courage the Cowardly Dog.

This amazing, surprisingly effective form of relaxation continued on for about ten minutes before he heard the shower water turn off. It had probably been a half an hour since he forced Roxas into the bathroom…

He sighed and stood up, turning off the TV and locking his laptop (better safe than sorry!) and headed at a leisurely pace through the living room and bedroom until he was standing in front of the bathroom.

Without knocking he unlocked and opened the door, walking in on a completely naked Roxas holding a towel in one hand, staring at the mirror. He glanced at Axel in surprise and quickly wrapped the towel around his waist, cursing.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He said, not meeting the redhead's gaze. Axel shrugged; it was so easy for him to pretend he didn't care.

"The water stopped running so I assumed it was safe for me to come in."

"Well, you know what they say happens when one assumes." Roxas case Axel a wearing glance before pushing past him and into the bedroom, quickly going over to the closet.

The redhead raised an eyebrow before turning off the light in the bathroom and facing the bedroom, watching the blonde with a curious expression as he changed into his pajamas.

"Feeling any better?"

"Like you care."

Axel cleared his throat and sat down on the bed. "Gotta give you that one. Are you like, hungry or something?"

"No."

"Tired?"

"No."

"Are you feeling anything at all, at this particular moment?"

"No."

Axel sighed and laid down, closed his eyes. "All right. Makes my job easy."

Without replying, the blonde exited the room, presumably to return to his haven in the living room. Axel made a soft 'tch' sound before sitting up. He wanted to keep an eye on his captive as much as possible, but at the same time he _really_ wanted to catch up on some sleep.

He stood up slowly and moved, equally as slowly, into the living room, where Roxas was sitting on the couch staring out one of the windows.

"Bird watching?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow and sitting down on the other end of the couch and picking up his laptop once more.

"No."

"So conversational…" He muttered. After typing in his password once more and opening the Internet, making sure that Roxas couldn't see his background at any given moment, he glanced up at the blonde.

"Leave me alone."

The redhead sighed and shook his head, turning his attention back to Google. After brief consideration, he decided on his search topic: The Five Stages of Grieving. About ten million results popped up, and he clicked on the first one immediately, which was pretty self explanatory.

"Roxas, it think you're isolating." He said. The comment, however, was met with no response. The blonde was still staring out the window, now almost longingly. Expectantly.

"Or, since it appears you're still waiting for you parents, maybe denial…" He sighed and closed his computer, turned the TV back on.

"I told you; they're going to come for me."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that, kid."

"They _will!_" Roxas replied harshly, and the redhead could see what looked like tears threatening to spill from his eyes and over his cheeks.

"Hey, relax." Axel held up a defensive hand and shifted a little further away from the younger of the two. "Don't like, spaz out on me."

"You're such a self important, ignorant asshole." Roxas murmured, standing up and marching halfway into the bedroom. "You don't care about anyone but yourself."

"It's not like that's against the law."

"It is when you kidnap someone because of it." With that, Roxas closed the space between him and the bedroom, leaving Axel alone in the living room. It took a moment or two, but the redhead soon recovered and decided to check his email again. Immediately, his eyes were met with a very satisfying alert; 1 new, unread message.

* * *

**A/N:** Alrighty! I really hate this chapter! ;D I dunno. Something about it just seems off to me. But hey, whatever. If you guise like it, that's good good. xP And dangit, your reviews are so lovely. I love them. They make me happy.  
Now! I am very sorry to report, but I think that, for all of you who are just waiting on the edge of your seats for the fluff...there MIGHT have to be a tiny, tiny little road block. But no worries! Its the kind of road block where you have to take a detour that ends up getting you to your destination faster. o.o If that makes any sense. *blinkblinkcoughblink*

Love yaz!  
~Sara


	7. Anger

Roxas blinked, fireworks exploding behind his eyes, and looked at the clock again. 2:15 a.m., central standard time. He hadn't gotten any sleep since Axel had forced him to go to bed, and the redhead was still up, watching some stupid cartoon that Roxas had been listening to through the door.

He began listening to the rhythmic ticking of the clock, trying to find some sort of constant beat or melody in it. Anything to take his mind off of a) how bored he was and b) how pissed off he was.

Axel had tried to feed him the crap about his parents not coming to get him _again_, but this time, instead of making him upset, he had gotten really, really mad. He also felt that it was necessary to share these feelings with his captor using rather…profane language; an action which had earned him a punch in the face, the subsequent shiner and split lip inevitable.

Even that, however, hadn't done anything to calm him down. Really, in retrospect, the entire situation that he was in was Axel's fault. If the redhead hadn't been a complete, self-absorbed asshole and decided that he needed to kidnap Roxas for his parents' money, he would probably be home in a comfortable bed surrounded by the affection of (most) of his family.

He sighed and turned over to lay on his back, staring at the dark ceiling. Lights from the other room were starting to seep in from the crack under the door, and they provided the blonde with a little lighting. However, this small amount of light cast many shadows, and regardless of how angry he was, those shadows scared Roxas.

In the other room, Axel let out another burst of his annoying laughter, and Roxas frowned. "Asshole…" He breathed, closing his eyes tight and imagining all of the things that he would do to Axel if their circumstances were just a little different.

That seemingly simple action must have taken him a long time, because the next thing he was aware of was the bedroom door being cracked open. He opened his eyes and noticed that there was no more light coming from the living room, but he could still faintly make out Axel's silhouette in the darkness.

The redhead didn't say anything; just stripped down to his boxers and slid slowly underneath the warm blankets beside his captive. Roxas silently vowed that one day, when Axel came to bed, he would stab him in the back with a cleaver.

There was silence between them for a moment, each of them listening to the sounds of the other's even breathing. Roxas was just about livid, the action of taking no action using up just about all of his energy.

Roxas's eyes just began to drift shut when he heard Axel suck in a deep breath, and for a moment thought something was wrong until he heard the purr that followed. The blonde blinked, listening to what he thought the redhead was doing for a little while longer just to confirm what he was thinking.

Axel huffed softly and groaned, and Roxas could feel the heat radiating off of his captor's body. "Ah…fuck."

Roxas all but gagged, a disgusting bile rising in the pit of his stomach. Axel groaned softly again, and Roxas felt the sheets shift as the redhead parted his legs further.

They continued on like this for a few minutes before the little blonde couldn't take any more and elbowed Axel square in the back. "You're so disgusting." He spat out.

Axel stopped in his ministrations immediately, turning on Roxas with an expression of pure shock. "You're _awake_?"

"No shit." Roxas hissed. "And you're…you're _jerking off_."

"No shit!" Axel turned over to face Roxas, slowly moving from shocked to pissed off to relatively surprised. "How long were you listening?"

"Long enough." The blonde grumbled, crossing his arms and snorting. "So nasty…"

"If it was so nasty, why didn't you stop me sooner?" Axel asked. Before Roxas could form a response, however, he heard the redhead lean over, and soon a light was on in the bedroom.

Roxas immediately noticed two things. One, Axel's face was flushed a very deep red color, and it almost looked like he was blushing. A lot. Two, he was grinning like a maniac, and had a gleam in his eyes that told Roxas he was probably up to something.

"I…" Roxas opened his mouth to respond, but when no valid excuse came out he just narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell do you care, anyway?"

"I think you were enjoying it." Axel purred, leaning forward. "I think you were getting off on hearing me jerk."

"You're so disgusting." Roxas spat, propping himself up on his elbows and leaning away from his captor. "I can barely stand to me in the same room as you, so something makes me highly doubt that theory, as well."

"I don't believe you." Axel said simply. Roxas shrugged.

"That's your problem. But believe you me; I was _not_ getting aroused."

"I think we should check." Axel said in a low voice, the glint in his eyes taking on a rather malicious quality. Before the blonde had a chance to protest, Axel's hand was between his legs, his lips at Roxas's ear.

"Are you going to give me a chance to be proven wrong?" He purred.

"Get off of me." Roxas growled at him in response, shoving at Axel's shoulder. The redhead, however, was far stronger than the blonde, and barely budged an inch.

"I don't like the way that answer sounds." Axel moved his hand up slowly, taking time to caress Roxas's thigh beneath the sheets.

Roxas shuddered and snorted, closing his legs, trapping Axel's hand just below his cock. "It's not like I care, you pervert. Get away from me."

Axel sighed. "What if I don't want to?"

"That's really too bad for you!" Roxas yelled in his face, and Axel laughed. The blonde continued glaring at him for a moment before the insecurity set in and Roxas leaned stubbornly against the headboard.

"What's so funny?" He muttered, casting his eyes down.

"You're so cute when you try to fight it." Axel answered, giving Roxas puppy dog eyes for a brief time before pulling his hand free. "But you know I'm going to get what I want one way or the other."

He moved from his position on the left side of the bed and crawled on top of Roxas, pulling the sheet down. "So really, all you're succeeding in doing is buying yourself a few more minutes."

"You make me sick." Roxas spat, inching as far away from Axel as he could but actually moving back only a few centimeters.

"That's really unfortunate, because you make me really hot." He leaned down so that his lips were just in front of Roxas's, that psychotic grin still in place. "Now, be a good boy and give me a kiss."

The blonde chose to instead spit in Axel's face, and smirked briefly before yelling. "You're so disgusting! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be in this whole mess anyway. I hate you! Got it memorized, _Axel_?"

Axel sat up and wiped the saliva from his cheek, shaking his head slowly. "Man, kid. You really don't learn, do you?"

Roxas opened his mouth to spit some more curses at Axel, but before any sound had escaped his throat, the redhead backhanded him across the cheek; an action that was met with a loud crack that resounded throughout the room.

He grabbed Roxas's neck and wrapped his fingers and tightly as he pleased, enjoying the soft choking sound that the blonde made and the way his eyes widened. "Now, listen up." He hissed. "If you ever try to pull any shit like that again, the next time your parents will be seeing you will be in a body bag. You don't want that to happen now, do you?"

Roxas shook his head 'no' as fast and as many times as he could, and Axel nodded, released his throat. The blonde gasped for air, all of the fight that had been in him immediately disappearing to be replaced by fear. All of his false confidence and melted away to reveal what had truly been fueling him; fear.

"And to think that I was planning on being _gentle_ tonight." Axel said, sighing and shaking his head. "Well, you made your bed. Now you have the lie in it."

Roxas gulped and shook his head again, taking Axel by the shoulder. "No, I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean it. I'm just angry. At my parents. Because they…they haven't paid you yet. I don't know. I'm sorry."

"I'm feeling inclined not to believe you." Axel said coldly, shrugging Roxas's hand off of his shoulder. "However, anger is the second stage of grief."

"Uhm…what?" Roxas asked, blinking.

Axel ignored his question and slid his hand underneath Roxas's boxers, using his thumb and forefinger to pinch and stroke the blonde's length. Roxas let out a choked gasp and grabbed the edge of the bed, his fingernails digging into the mattress.

"P-please…" He gasped. "Please stop…"

"No thanks." Axel said, and continued in his ministrations, his stroking fingers gaining speed. "I'm rather enjoying myself."

Roxas pinched his eyes shut and squeezed the edge of the mattress harder, and he swore he could feel his nails break through the thin fabric of the sheets. What he couldn't believe was how incredibly gentle for Axel this action was. It was killing him.

Axel moved his thumb over Roxas's sensitive, (should be) virgin head, rubbing it hard. Roxas, in response, began to let out a soft moan, but before it had even fully exited his lips he clapped a hand over his mouth and whimpered.

"Ah…you like that, don't you, Roxas?" Axel purred. When Roxas didn't respond, he continued massaging the boy's hardening length; an action which earned him a loud whimper from his captive.

"That's what I thought." He smirked and withdrew his hand from the boy's boxers, licking the precum from his fingers and moving back to his side of the bed.

Roxas slowly let his hand fall from his mouth and opened his eyes, glancing at Axel in surprise. His captor smirked and pointed to the bathroom. "You can finish in here, in front of me, or finish in their, and sleep in the shower tonight. Take your pick."

The blonde's mouth opened, half to say something and half in shock. Axel expected him to…to _masturbate_ in front of him? What the hell was this guy thinking?

"Am I allowed to pick neither?" He whispered. Axel laughed.

"You expect me to believe that you're going to go the rest of the night, trying to fall asleep with _that_ between your legs?" He indicated Roxas's cock, which was, by now, pretty much a full-fledged erection, and raised his eyebrows.

Roxas swallowed and nodded slowly, crossed his legs. Axel just shook his head. "No. You're not allowed to choose neither."

The blonde closed his eyes once more and thought about both of his options, and both of them had their cons (neither of them really had their pros). It was already very clear to him which option he was going to choose, but he would give anything to have a door number three.

"Come on, kid. Make up your mind already. I'm tired and I want to go to bed." Roxas could hear the impatience in Axel's voice, and cursed God for not letting him put this off any longer.

Slowly, he reached down between his legs and rubbed his dick through the fabric of his boxers, whimpering softly. He could _feel_ Axel's gaze burning into him, and he tried his best to ignore that and focus on the pleasure, even if it was coming from his own hand.

"Ah…" He slowly slid down off the headboard and onto the mattress, rubbing and squeezing himself harder, the redhead beside him quickly being forgotten.

"So--" The name began to slip from his lips, but he was immediately silenced as Axel's lips were crushed against his.

"Be careful who's name you moan." He breathed softly, grabbed Roxas's hand, and helped him finish. The blonde cried out as he came, no name escaping his lips. Instead, he contented himself in a series of indistinguishable sounds of pleasure.

He collapsed back on the mattress as soon as he was finished, which took a surprisingly short amount of time, and looked to Axel to make sure that the perv was satisfied.

"Good boy." The redhead said, stroking Roxas's hair and taking his right hand from where it lay beside his captive's body. Deliberately, his tongue slid around each of Roxas's fingers, licking the viscous white liquid from them.

"Now…" He said, finishing his treat and pulling the blankets up to Roxas's chin. The blonde was looking at him with a look of complete disgust on his face, mentally cursing himself for letting Axel have this kind of control over him.

"Who are you made at?"

Roxas took a deep breath, trying to keep the malice out of his voice. "My parents."

"Good boy." Axel said again. He patted Roxas on the head and leaned to his left, clicked the light on his nightstand out.

The room was plunged into darkness once more, and after recovering himself a little, Roxas looked over at the clock. 3:45 a.m. He sighed and was about to lay on his side when he felt Axel tap his shoulder.

"Hey kid." He murmured. "Come here."

Roxas glanced over his shoulder and stared at Axel in surprise for a moment, trying to understand what the redhead meant. "I'm…sorry?"

"Come here." Axel said again, and placed a hand on Roxas's hip. Then the blonde got it, shock coming over him briefly. Axel expected him to…_cuddle_?

"I'm growing impatient, Roxas." Axel said shortly, and almost immediately Roxas moved over and curled up, very uncomfortably, against Axel's side.

He felt a strong arm encircle his waist, and Axel pressed his face in the blonde's hair. "You know the only reason I do these things to you is because you make me, right? This could have been a rather pleasurable night for you, but you just had to go and be defiant."

Roxas nodded slowly, and Axel sighed. "Well, I guess that's okay. I have a feeling that we're going to have plenty of time for you to warm up to me."

_Fat chance_. Roxas thought, but just nodded again. Axel chuckled softly and kissed Roxas on the top of his head, and the blonde could feel him relax.

"Well, get some sleep. I'm not going to have you passing out in the middle of the day because you're tired."

They were silent after that, and Roxas closed his eyes, doing his best to fall asleep. He tried to fool himself into believing that it wasn't Axel he was laying against. It wasn't the steady bass of Axel's heart beat that helped him relax, or Axel's rhythmic breathing that eventually put him to sleep.

* * *

**A/N:** I LOVE this chapter! I hope you guise like it as much as I do. It makes me happai. ^^ Urm...yeah. I think I'm going to get through the fourth stage of grief before Xigbar comes in, and after the stages of grief are over, get ready for some Dem Dem. ;D 'Cept I'm pretty sure you guise are going to hate Demyx's role...xD coughcoughHe'stheroadblockcoughcough  
Yup! Enjoy!

~Sara


	8. Bargaining

_Okay, God._ Roxas began, furrowing his brow a little bit. The priest on the TV had said that if you didn't pray often, just say the first thing that came to your mind. It didn't seem much like praying to the blonde, but who would know better than someone who serves God himself?

_I haven't really been much of a…believer. Ever. But I suppose that given the proper circumstances, anyone can find You. Or at least, that's what they say on TV._ His brow furrowed again, but he shook his head and kept going.

_I've been stuck with this pervert for like, eight months. I'm not really sure what my parents have been up to…not paying the ransom and anything…well, moving on. I swear over a Bible or whatever the hell (pun intended) you would like me to swear over that if you get me out of here, I will become your most loyal servant ever. Honestly. _

"Hey, Roxas." Axel threw a pillow at the praying teen and crossed his arms impatiently. "Get your lazy ass out of bed. We're having company."

Roxas sat up and raised an eyebrow. "Company?"

"Don't get too excited." Axel said. "He's on my side, not yours. If anyone's going to save you from this "hell" that you're suffering, its definitely not going to be this guy."

The blonde slid out of bed slowly and pulled on a fresh outfit for the day, running a hand through his messy hair and popping a mint in his mouth in favor of brushing his teeth. "How do you know him?"

"Friend from the joint." The answer was short, but it was an answer.

"From jail?"

"No Roxas, from the marijuana." Axel rolled his eyes and motioned for Roxas to follow him into the living room. "Yes, from jail."

"What did you do to go to jail the first time?"

The redhead turned around and Roxas stopped immediately, watching Axel cautiously. "You're just _full_ of questions today, aren't you?"

Roxas shrugged. "I guess so."

"Well, I'm not going to tell you why I was in jail. I'm not going to tell you why _he _was in jail. All you need to know is that his name is Xigbar, and you should be almost as afraid of him as you are of me. Got it memorized?"

"Yeah, I got it memorized." Roxas grumbled, plopped himself down on the couch. As much as he hated Axel, getting ignored at home was one thing. Getting ignored by the person who kidnapped you was entirely different. Plus, Axel had been the only human he'd interacted with in eight months. It got lonely.

"He should be here pretty soon." Axel interrupted Roxas's train of thought, and the blonde just nodded to show the redhead that he'd heard. "So use your manners."

"You're one to talk…"

Axel elbowed Roxas in the side, none too gently, and the blonde glared at his captor. "I said, manners."

"Alright, alright. Manners. Got it."

They sat there for a moment, both staring at a blank TV, waiting for the arrival of Axel's new partner. Roxas began praying silently again, this time promising the God that he didn't even believe was there that he would be nice to his step-sister and pretend that he liked his step-father. When that didn't work, he decided he could level with the man and say that he would be nice to his step-dad, too.

--

The second there was a knock on the door, Axel was up and pulling it open with the most enthusiasm Roxas had ever seen his face wear. Ever.

"Xigbar!" He called, with was answered with a cry of "Axel!"

Roxas watched as the two old friends met in a "man hug," and frowned as he got a clear view of this Xigbar. Save for the salt-and-pepper ponytail and the _huge_ scar across half of his face (the earrings didn't really stick out to Roxas) he looked pretty normal.

"Ah man, I feel like its been forever!" Xigbar said, clapped Axel on the back as the redhead shut the door. And locked it. Three times.

"Only about five centuries." Axel said, and they both erupted into laughter. After a moment of joking passed between them (jokes that, in Roxas's opinion, were so epically cheesy it was almost comical) Axel showed Xigbar in, introducing him to Roxas.

"Xigbar, meet the paycheck. Roxas, this is Xigbar." The redhead fixed Roxas with a look that said, 'You had better not say anything rude,' and Roxas smiled.

"So you're one of the people who's going to take money from my parents in exchange for my return?" He blinked a few times, using his sweet, innocent face on the new arrival.

Xigbar nodded. "That's the impression I got, yup. I take it you're the rich prick who's been giving Axel here a hard time?"

Roxas chuckled and shook his head, leaning back on the couch and kicking up his feet. "I've only given him what he deserves."

"Ah man…" Xigbar said, turning to Axel. "This kid must be a riot in bed."

Roxas choked, Xigbar smirked, and Axel laughed. "He would be, if only he cooperated with me sometimes. I've tried to tell him, but you know kids. So stubborn."

"Oh believe you me, I know." Xigbar replied. A moment of understanding passed through the two, and Roxas could swear his heart skipped a beat.

"Oh my God." He said, glancing furtively at Axel. "You've hired a pedophile. I mean, kidnapping and rape is one thing, but a _pedophile_?"

"I'm sorry Roxas; I don't recall asking for you opinion." Axel said, smiling a very controlled smile. "Now be a good boy and watch TV while I show Xigbar the rest of the house."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Roxas grumbled. He picked up the remote for the TV and began surfing channels, listening as Axel walked his friend through the rest of the small house.

_Oh dear God…_ He thought. _I've tried to offer you some pretty sweet deals, and what do you give me in return? Now I have to deal with TWO of them. As if one wasn't enough. And one's even a career pedophile! I mean, Jesus Christ (pun intended). What if he tries to rape me too? Holy Mother of God…this is positively ridiculous._

"You've already seen the living room…" Roxas heard Axel say, taking Xigbar into the bedroom. "This is the bedroom, but you're going to be stuck on the couch while you're hear."

"Aw, you mean you don't want to sleep with me?" Xigbar asked, chuckling.

"Because you're such a catch." The redhead replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "No, I just have to keep an eye on that troublesome blonde in there. Let me tell you something; that kid is a _handful_. He's constantly being rude…"

Roxas snorted, but pretended he was watching TV and continued listening to Axel give Xigbar the rundown on how he would have to deal with the captive. "You're going to have to be on top of your game if you're alone with him. I'm just tired of staying in this fucking house…but while I'm here I'll keep an eye on him for you. Sound good?"

"Sounds good." Xigbar answered, and the two of them came back into the living room to find Roxas watching Law and Order like the good little dog he was supposed to be.

"Axel, I'm hungry." He said idly, glancing behind him and up at the redhead.

"That's too bad. You're not eating until dinner."

"Why not?" The blonde sat up bolt upright, trying to look as shocked and upset as he could manage.

"For starters, because I said so. Also, you weren't being polite to Xigbar when he got here. So this is your punishment."

The redhead walked over and sat down on the couch, and Roxas moved over to the other end of the couch more out of habit than actual desire at this point. Xigbar watched the two of them interact with an amused smile on his face, walking around to sit in the space between captor and captive.

"Ah, man. This is gonna be a blast."

--

"Axel, come _on_. I'm starving."

"When's the last time you ate?"

"I…I don't know. Yesterday? I don't know." Roxas pouted up at his captor, drawing his knees into his chest. "Please, can I have something to eat?"

"No."

Roxas groaned and glanced around the room, still pouting. Xigbar had meandered off into the bedroom, and the blonde was quite sure that neither he nor his captor wanted to know exactly what he was doing in there.

"Why not?"

"I already told you." Axel groaned, tearing his face away from the screen of his laptop to fix Roxas with a glare. "You weren't being polite to Xigbar when he got here. _And_ you weren't nice to me last night. You're being punished."

"You're such a dick sometimes." Roxas mumbled, leaning on the arm of the couch that he had been against almost all day and watching the TV uninterestedly.

"Wow. That's a shocker." Axel replied. "Tell you what. If you promise to be nice to me tonight and actually follow through, I'll feed you now and at dinner."

He smirked and continued typing away, and Roxas scoffed. _God, why are You doing this to me? I mean, why on Earth would people follow You're lead if You can't even cut me a break for one day? ONE DAY???_

"What qualifies being nice to you?" He mumbled, and Axel furrowed his brow.

"What did you say?" He asked, eyes still trained on the tiny screen.

"I said, what qualifies being nice to you?"

Axel laughed, completely ignoring the blonde's 'I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this' look. "Don't fight me when I try to enjoy myself."

"Anything else?"

Axel stopped his typing and thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I don't think so."

Roxas sighed and lifted his chin in the most proud manner he could muster, sitting up a little straighter. "I'd like a bowl of ramen."

Axel's hands came to a complete halt, and he looked at the blonde with a look of undisguised shock on his face. "You've got to be joking."

Roxas didn't say anything; just gave the redhead the most blank expression that came to his face. He was absolutely disgusted with himself, hardly believing that he was going to let this pervert do things to him in exchange for a little snack before dinner.

When he didn't receive any response, Axel chuckled and stood up, locking his computer, walked into the kitchen. The entire way there, he kept muttering 'Alright.' or 'Okay then.'

It didn't take very long, and within minutes Roxas had a bowl of steaming hot ramen in front of him. His mouth was watering like crazy, and regardless of the way it burned his mouth, he shoveled forkfuls down his throat without hesitating once.

"By the way…" Axel muttered, opening up his laptop and typing in a password ridiculously quickly. "If you don't live up to your half of the deal, you won't eat for two days. Got it memorized?"

Roxas just nodded quickly, barely hearing the redhead, instead contenting himself with a long sip of the salty broth. After having not eaten anything in almost 36 hours, he thought it tasted pretty damn good.

--

The terms of the deal he had made didn't strike him full force until Axel led him into the bedroom at midnight that night (or the following morning, rather) and they caught Xigbar fishing through his underwear drawer.

"Xigbar, what the hell are you doing?" Axel asked. His voice was more patient that Roxas thought it might be, and when the older of the two criminals looked up, he laughed nervously.

"I…uh…lost my…" Axel started shaking his head halfway through the bad excuse and sighed.

"Well, whatever. Get out. I've got something to do."

Xigbar glanced between Axel's patient, half-smirk and Roxas's look of half fear and half serious regret and nodded, grinned, and walked around the two standing in the doorway and into the living room. "You have fun with that, bro." He called, chuckling.

Roxas glanced up at Axel, who sighed and shook his head, and then was lead over to the bed. "Are you sure that there's nothing I can do of equal value to make up for this?" He asked for what seemed like the millionth time.

Also, for what seemed like the millionth time, Axel shook his head 'no' and began unbuttoning his jeans, right after stripping himself of his shirt. "Nope. You made a deal, now you have to live up to it. In a way, I'm teaching you responsibility."

Roxas groaned and walked as slowly as possible to sit on the bed, waiting for the redhead to be ready. "I can't tell you how much I don't want to do this."

"Oh, stop your complaining." Axel said, chuckling. "I think you might enjoy it more than you think you will. Now," He turned to face the blonde, wearing nothing but his boxers. "Undress. If I hear another word out of you that isn't either a moan or a whimper, I'll make sure you _don't_ enjoy this. Got it--"

"Yeah, I got it memorized." Roxas said, pulling his shirt up over his head and quickly slipping his cargo shorts from his hips. Due to the lack of nutrition he had receive, he had lost some weight. It had actually benefited him looks wise, considering that now he was about thirty-five pounds lighter than he had been eight months ago.

Axel placed a hand on Roxas's right shoulder, pushing him down on the bed. Roxas swallowed loudly, and nervous bile rising in his throat. However, he didn't say a word, as he was commanded, and lay there in wait.

Far too slowly, Axel climbed on top of the kid and mounted his hips. Before he was even given a chance to think about what was going to follow into the morning, his captor was grinding against him, the temperature in the room going up about five thousand degrees.

--

Roxas laid against the redhead's chest, eyes shut tightly. Axel's arm was hanging limply from his shoulders, and he was so passed out that Roxas doubted even an animal stampede could wake him at this point.

He wasn't going to deny that it had felt good. Or, better than it had been before that. Not necessarily good, but definitely not bad. Of course, he didn't give Axel the satisfaction of letting him know that; the entire time the blonde didn't make one noise but a sigh of relief once it was finally over.

He could've sworn that Xigbar was listening to them through the door. He wasn't sure, but Roxas would bet his freedom that Pervert #2 was getting off on hearing Axel grunt as he thrust inside of Roxas over and over and over again. Which was disgusting in every way possible.

Despite the fact that the thought made Roxas want to kill himself, he figured that he felt safer with Axel than he would with Xigbar. At least he knew that Axel hadn't been in jail for molesting little boys. Plus, he knew Axel better, despite the lack of information he had on the redhead.

_Dear God…_He thought, closing his eyes. _If being stuck with Axel means that I'm safe with Xigbar, than by all means continue answering my prayers._

_

* * *

  
_**A/N:** Okay! Wow. Urm...it didn't take me very like to write this chapter, so if you guise don't like it I won't be really offended (actually I will, but I'm just saying that; just in case) Urm...yeah. So I think that Xigbar might help Roxas like Axel more if he keeps being all pervy and nasty. xD He was totally snarfing Roxy's underwear...PERV ALERT!  
Just so you guise know, about one month, maybe three weeks has passed since the last chapter and Axel was all like...';D cuddle...' so...yeah. Just so you know. Roxas is kinda used to this stuff by now. xD Still hates it, but whatever. He'll get over it. Keep it up with the reviews. They maketh me happai. ^^


	9. Depression

It didn't take Roxas very long to abandon the whole praying thing. Regardless of what his prayers were, they were never answered. Even the little ones, like having a good night's rest or fifteen extra minutes without Axel _or_ Xigbar around couldn't come true. After a while, the blonde figured that if you wanted something to get done and get done right, you just had to do it yourself.

They moved into February with no word from his parents. Xigbar, after the first month, was visibly stressed out. He complained that Axel had said that he would get money soon, and Axel argued that Xigbar had never really specified what "soon" was. Either way, Roxas was still stuck with the two of them and his parents still had their hands on the $500k that would free him.

March came and went, and so did April. Each day starting the day that Roxas had decided to give up on this whole God thing, he sank deeper and deeper into a depressed numbness that only served to further alienate him from society. Axel was getting pissed of that his captive wasn't doing anything useful; just moping around all day. At the same time, he was curious as to what had happened to the defiant teen that he had been forced to take care for almost a year.

When and if Roxas got out of bed, it was because Axel forced him to. Even then it was usually late in the afternoon; the blonde's hair was a complete mess, his pajamas twisted around every which way. After several attempts and making Roxas part of the world of the living again, the redhead gave up and only tried to get Roxas up to shower and to eat.

There was even a decline in his intake of food. Roxas ate, but he only ate a little snack about every three days. It wasn't because Axel wouldn't let him, either. He just felt extremely nauseous every time he was around food, and would usually end up running to the bathroom until the feeling passed and he would climb back into bed. Standing only 5'4" at age fourteen, the blonde's weight had dropped to a dangerous 78 lbs.

Around May, Axel decided that he had had enough of sad, poor rejected Roxas. The depression had been going on for three months straight, and it wasn't even fun to torment the kid anymore because all he did was assume that he had done something to deserve it and stumble slowly back to bed.

"Alright, kid." He said, grabbed Roxas's shirt, and hauled him out of bed. "You're getting up and getting right with the world. I don't care how bad you feel for yourself."

"Does getting right with the world mean you're going to let me go?" Roxas murmured as he was tossed into the living room, crossing his arms as soon as he gained his balance.

"No, of course not." Axel replied like the answer should have been obvious. He had no idea how to react to the teen anymore; he went from hating Axel to letting Axel fuck him to being so depressed that he could barely get out of bed. Whatever the hell that it, it wasn't teenage syndrome or whatever it was called.

"Then I'm not interested."

"Well, that's too bad for you. I'm going to make you interested. Here," He tossed Roxas a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that he had swiped from the closet earlier, and they landed on the floor in front of the blonde. "Get dressed. I'm going to make you breakfast, and you're going to eat all of it."

Roxas sighed. "Yeah, whatever."

Axel sighed and walked into the kitchen, grabbed the bacon and eggs out of the fridge and started cooking them up. Only halfway through the bacon did he notice Xigbar sitting at the small table in the room, looking into the living room.

"What's wrong with your hostage?" He asked, that pedophilic concern coloring his face. Axel glared at him for a moment before turning the bacon, dishing the eggs.

"I think he's finally reached stage four."

"Stage four?"

Axel shrugged. "Ever heard of the five stages of grief, dude? You know, denial and stuff, then he gets all mad and shit, then he starts bargaining with God, and now he's all depressed and stuff. You follow?"

"Um, not really." Xigbar stood up with his coffee cup and started towards the living room, but the redhead quickly blocked his path.

"You're not going in there to 'cheer him up,' so forget it."

Xigbar tried to give his partner in crime (literally) the most innocent expression he could manage, raising his hands in defense. "What if the kid needs someone to talk to or something? He could be in a really dark place right now, for all we know."

"If he needs someone to talk to, he'll talk to me." Axel replied shortly, finishing up the bacon and putting it on a plate with the eggs. "I asked you to come here so that I wouldn't have to stay cooped up in this goddamn place for the rest of forever. But Xigbar, I so swear. If you ever lay a finger on that kid--"

"Man, someone's no good at sharing." Xigbar interrupted, sulking back over to the table. "I was just going to say hi."

"Like hell you were." Axel grabbed the orange juice and poured a glass for the captive, opting to ignore the sharing comment. _Its what you get for hiring a pedo_…He thought, shook his head, and took the small meal into the living room.

"Alright, kid. Here's your breakfast…" Axel trailed off and glanced around the living room, not seeing the familiar shock of blonde hair anywhere. He groaned and set the food on the coffee table by the couch, walked purposefully into the bedroom.

There, he found Roxas, surprise surprise, curled up in a ball on the bed. He had the blankets pulled up to his chin and his face was buried in a pillow, and the redhead swore he could hear quiet sobs coming from his tiny body.

"Roxas…" He groaned, walked over to the side of the bed, and sat down next to his hostage. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" The blonde choked out, and he glanced up at Axel with tears streaming from his eyes. "Go away."

"No." He frowned and moved to place a hand on Roxas's shoulder before hesitating, deciding the best of it, and replaced his hand on the edge of the bed. "You're going to eat."

"No I'm not."

"Damn it Roxas, I'm not going to let you kill yourself just because you've finally come to the realization that your parents value $500,000 more than they value you." He growled. Roxas recoiled as though the words physically hurt him, and tears gushed from his eyes.

"You bastard!" He yelled at Axel, raised a hand to slap the redhead which Axel easily caught. "You have no idea what you're talking about! But then again, how the hell can a heartless kidnapper rapist like _you_ ever understand what it's like to love someone?"

Axel glared at Roxas and picked him up from the wrist, and the blonde let out a cry of pain. "I'm sorry, does that hurt?" He hissed.

Roxas fell out of bed and landed flat on his bottom, and Axel dragged him from the bedroom and into the living room, deposited him on the couch. Xigbar had come rushing out of the kitchen as soon as he heard Roxas struggling and watched Axel in horror, as though he had just tortured a kitten.

"You're not moving until you clear that plate and drain the glass." He said to Roxas, his voice low and dangerous. "I so swear, if you move even an _inch_, I'll make sure you won't be able to walk for the next three days. Got it memorized?"

Roxas looked up at the redhead in horror, the emotional pain that he was feeling written all over his face. Axel watched him, his expression cold as ever. However, after a moment or two he faltered and shook his head, strode into the kitchen without a word.

The blonde looked at Xigbar, who was watching Roxas like the poor kitten that had been tortured, and turned his attention to the food in front of him. It was still hot, and the smell of the bacon was making his mouth water (the smell of the eggs made him want to throw up). Slowly, hesitantly, he picked up the fork and shoveled the breakfast into his mouth.

--

Axel had completely cooled down around six that night. Earlier, he had sent Xigbar to the store with a list of things that they needed, his excuse being that he wanted to stay at the house to make sure that the blonde wasn't depressed _and_ raped while he was gone.

He emerged from the kitchen to find the TV on, Roxas looking out the window with a blank expression on his face, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. The redhead walked over to him and sat down on the opposite end of the couch, his expression having gone from cold to uncharacteristically soft.

Roxas paid him no mind, instead the reality of his parents not loving him running through his mind over and over again. He couldn't believe that they hadn't even contacted America's Most Wanted yet; watching the show on Saturdays at eight o'clock (central standard time) had become a sort of religion for them, and not once had he seen Axel's face or his own on the screen.

"What's today?" He whispered to Axel, his voice raspy. Axel glanced at him in surprise, having not expected Roxas to say anything, and blinked.

"Um…Saturday. America's Most Wanted is on tonight."

Roxas nodded, and another sound didn't escape him. Axel watched him for a few moments before he turned his attention back to the TV, hardly paying attention to what was going on.

--

Around seven, Roxas started to wonder idly why Xigbar hadn't come back yet. The list didn't have that many things on it, and the store was only about twenty minutes away from their rental home.

"Where's your friend?" He asked softly, glanced away from the window for the first time in hours to look at Axel.

"He's probably molesting some little boy." Axel responded. Roxas thought for a moment that he was trying to be funny, but based on how grave his expression was that thought was quickly dismissed. "The store is right next to the school, and there's an after-school choir meeting today. I assume that's where he is."

"How would you know that?"

"They sent a flier home in the paper." Axel responded. He glanced up from the screen of his laptop to look at Roxas, then glanced back down, then snorted.

The blonde blinked, his interest piqued. After hours of telling himself that his parents didn't love him, he was begging for something to take his mind off of that subject.

"What?"

"The wiki article says that you shouldn't try to help someone who is experiencing the fourth stage of grief." He answered, eyebrows raised in disbelief. "I say, to hell with that."

"'To hell with that'?" Roxas asked softly. "What are you going to do? Get me a therapist to tell me that its not my fault mommy and daddy hate me?"

"Mm, I was thinking something maybe a little more practical." Axel answered, grinning. He placed his open laptop on the coffee table and leaned forward, so close to the blonde that Roxas could feel the breeze every time he exhaled.

"What was it you had in mind?" He asked, gulping. Axel chuckled and leaned forward a little more, placed a hand gently on Roxas's as he brushed their lips together.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your wrist." He breathed, and before Roxas could reply he pressed their lips together in a soft, gentle kiss. It didn't last very long, but the second it was over he went in for another.

By the third kiss, Roxas was used to the sensation of Axel's lips actually being gentle against his (for once) and didn't mind it when the redhead tried to extend the length of their contact for a few seconds.

When Axel pulled away, he backed up only a few centimeters from Roxas. He was grinning and opened his eyes slowly, cupped Roxas's cheek. "Feel better?"

"Uhm…" Roxas, too, opened his eyes and blinked a few times. "If by better you mean epically confused, then yes. I feel a lot better."

Axel chuckled and kissed Roxas quickly again, still smiling. "I told you that you would be given time to warm up to me. I'm just giving you some help."

"This is very unlike you." Roxas muttered.

"Would you prefer that I beat you into submission?" Axel asked, pursing his lips together in a straight line. Immediately Roxas shook his head 'no,' eyes wide.

"That's what I thought." Axel chuckled and nuzzled Roxas's neck, purring softly. "If you're wondering why I'm having a sudden change of heart, let's just say that I'm not very good at sharing what's mine."

Roxas swallowed loudly and did his best to relax against the couch, the task proving to be much harder than it sounds. "Are you talking about Xigbar?"

"Yeah, I'm talking about Xigbar. I don't really like all of the sympathy he feels for you. Or how much he feels it's necessary to be there to comfort you when you're upset like this." Axel frowned, sighed and sat up, giving Roxas a calculating look.

"Do you think I should fire him?"

Roxas opened his mouth to reply, blinked, and closed his mouth. "Why are you asking me?"

Axel shrugged. "The last thing I want is for you to feel uncomfortable while I'm trying to get you to go all Stockholm on me. So say the word and he's gone. Unless he starts to make you feel uncomfortable _after_ you've fallen in love with me. In which case he'll probably stay."

Roxas blinked. "That made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever."

"Same here." Axel paused for a moment before clearing his throat and changing the channel to fox, where America's Most Wanted was about to start. "Just um…lay low until you've actually fallen in love with me, okay?"

"What makes you think I'm going to fall in love with you?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow. Despite how much he didn't want to admit it, the small amount of desire that Axel had shown toward him felt really, really good.

"Because you're starved for affection, and I'm the only one who can give it to you." Axel smiled sweetly, and patted Roxas foot gently. "If your parents keep up this trend, you're going to have more than enough time to realize that I'm the only one who cares about you, even if its only a little."

Before Roxas had a chance to retort, John Walsh flashed on the screen along with the rest of the opening sequence for AMW. In keeping with their Saturday night ritual, they both fell silent and watched as criminals' faces were flashed on the screen, each holding their breath to see Axel's would be among them.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was short and weird and I don't really like it. xD But whatever. I think you guise might like the end. I like the end. ^^ Axel's getting all cute and nice. And Xigbar's a pervert. xDD Well anyway. Hope you like it! There're gonna be like, a TON more chapters, because there's a lot of different things I wanna do with this fic. So...yeah. Enjoy!

~Sara


	10. Acceptance

"Hey kid," Axel commanded Roxas's attention, walking into the living in his boxers (at three in the afternoon!) grinning like a maniac. "Guess what today is."

"Um…" Roxas shrugged. "June 20th?"

"Correct you are!" Axel exclaimed. Xigbar, who was sitting on the other end of the couch staring at Roxas, glanced at the redhead curiously. "Do you remember what June 20th is?"

Roxas shrugged again. "I don't know. The last day of school? Congratulations Roxas, you skipped out on a whole year?"

"Hello! Today is the celebration of our one-year anniversary!" He walked over and sat down on the couch in front of Roxas. "Don't you remember? I mean, you have to have marked it off on that stupid little calendar of yours."

Roxas rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the TV. "I gave up on that like, in December. And pardon me for not remembering the exact day on which you chose to steal me from my family and ruin my life."

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated, Roxas." Axel said flatly. Upon receiving no response, he groaned and kept talking. "Well, anyway. I think we should celebrate."

"How?" Roxas felt his stomach rise into his throat, and swallowed hard. Knowing Axel, celebrating could mean anything from rape to going to the zoo.

"I think we should call your parents." Axel raised his chin in a bit of a proud gesture, and Roxas's eyes were on him in a second, his mouth agape.

"Call my parents?" He repeated. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Axel was actually going to call his parents…and he was going to be allowed to listen in on the call? He might even be allowed to talk?

"Yeah!" The redhead seemed really excited about this idea. Roxas blinked a few times in disbelief before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. In fact, I think it's a really good idea. Do I…get to talk to them?" The blonde chewed on his lower lip, knowing that he was probably pushing his luck but not really caring. After being stuck with these people for a full year, he was eager to know why his parents hadn't paid the ransom.

"Mm…maybe." Axel replied. He glanced at Xigbar, who was looking at his partner with probably the same amount of surprise that Roxas was wearing on his face. "What do you think, dude?"

"I…" Xigbar glanced at Roxas, then at Axel, then back to Roxas. "I think it's a terrible idea."

"And why is that?" Axel's voice sounded tight and controlled, and Roxas knew that he probably hated being told that an idea he was so proud of was being shot down by one of the two people he had to interact with.

"What if his parents like, actually decide to pay the ransom because they know he's okay?" Xigbar looked almost heartbroken. Roxas watched him freak out at the idea of the blonde actually going home, where he belonged, and thought he might be sick.

_Nasty pedophile…_ He thought, glaring at Xigbar before watching Axel carefully.

"Then he goes home." The redhead shrugged. "He gets what he wants, we get what we want. If you feel that it's necessary to do something _after_ that, I'll leave it up to you. But right now, my main goal is getting my money."

"I think it's a good idea." Roxas cut in quickly. Axel turned around and glared at him, and the blonde recoiled slightly.

"Roxas, speak when you're spoken to."

"You sound like my mother." He replied tartly, mentally smirking. At least he could get away with that without Axel beating the crap out of him. Hopefully.

Axel ignored the comment and turned his attention back to Xigbar, who looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "Xigbar, just because you can't live without seeing an adolescent boy each morning doesn't mean that I'm that same way. Plus, I was planning on calling the kid's parents anyway. I just wanted to see how he would react."

Roxas scoffed as Axel chuckled, crossed his arms, and leaned back on the arm of the couch. "Axel, you are a _psycho_."

"What makes you say that?"

"Here, you have this _gorgeous_ boy at your disposal, and you're willing to get rid of him? Just like that?" In Roxas's opinion, he sounded like he was about to cry. And the blonde didn't much like being called gorgeous by that pedo either.

"Pretty much, yeah." Axel answered, sighing. "But can you like, freak out after we call his parents? I really want to get this done and out of the way so that I'll be there to comfort Roxas when he's an emotional wreck. In the bedroom." He laughed out loud and jabbed Roxas in the ribs with his elbow.

Xigbar let out a cry that sounded like he was in pain, stood up abruptly, and marched off into the kitchen. Axel and Roxas both watched him for a few moments, watched as he tried to slam the door shut and failed miserably (due to the fact that there wasn't even a door) and watched as he plopped down at the table in distress.

Axel opened his mouth, closed his mouth, and shook his head before turning his attention back to Roxas. "Well. What do you say?"

Roxas's eyes grew wide as the redhead immediately caught his full attention, and he all but pounced forward, so close to Axel that he could feel body heat radiating from him. "You have a cell phone, don't you?"

Axel whipped the phone out and opened it, grinning. "Right here." Roxas watched as he opened up his contact list, fished through the contacts, and finally came to one marked "DuPont house."

"How did you get my house number?" Roxas asked softly.

"The same why I knew where you lived and where you went to school." Axel glanced at the blonde briefly before pressing send and holding the receiver to his ear. It rang once…and then twice…and then three times…

"Hello?" Roxas figured that Axel had the volume up really high, because he could distinctly hear his mother's voice.

"Mrs. DuPont?"

"Yes?"

"These are your son's captors." Roxas raised an eyebrow as the plural form of the noun was used, shrugged it off, a continued listening to the conversation.

His mother caught her breath, swallowed loudly, and continued speaking. "Yes?"

"Well, we were just wondering what's taken you so long to pay the ransom." Axel was keeping his voice pleasant, a polite smile on his face even though his captive's mother couldn't see him.

"Sir, I've already told you this. We won't pay the ransom until we have proof that our son is alright." When she got to the word 'alright' her voice faltered, and Roxas chewed on his lower lip in anticipation.

Axel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So if I let you, say, talk to him? Then will you pay me?"

She paused, and Roxas could see her in his mind thinking about the answer. "…Yes, I suppose we will."

Axel sighed again and handed the phone to the blonde, watching him with a surprisingly placid look on his face. Roxas took it hesitantly and held it up to his ear, and he could feel how warm it was already from Axel having spoken on it.

"Hello?"

His mother gasped and didn't say anything for quite a while. "…Roxas?"

"Yeah?"

"You're…you're alive?" Roxas was sure that it hadn't been meant to come out like a question. Surely his parents didn't think that he had been _dead_ all this time, did they? Was that why they hadn't been paying the ransom?

"Of course I'm alive!" He hissed. "What kind of a hostage is a dead one?" His words probably came out sounding a little more harsh than he had initially intended, but that was the last thing on his list of priorities at the moment. "Is that why you haven't been paying the ransom? Because you thought I was dead?"

"Well…" His mother said, hesitated. "Yes. Your father--"

"Stepfather." Roxas interjected.

"Oh good Lord Roxas, let's not have an argument about phraseology at a time like this." She said softly. "Your _step_father didn't want to waste the money if you were…well…if they had killed you."

"_Didn't want to waste the money?_" He repeated. His expression probably betrayed his hurt, anger, and disbelief, because Axel gave him a look that said something like, 'What the hell?'

"Well honey, you have to understand--"

"What, mom?" Roxas barked at her, already able to feel the lump rising in his throat. "What do I have to understand? That you value your goddamn money more than you value the satisfaction of knowing that I'm safe? That you value that…that _fucking money_ more than my _life_?"

"That's not it at all, Roxas! And don't you use that kind of language with your mother!" She sounded very flustered, and the blonde could only imagine what her face looked like just then.

"I will use that language with my mother!" He yelled. "Jesus Christ, mom! I should've been at home eleven months ago! What've you been doing? Shopping and playing bridge with your friends on Wednesdays and going to Namine's school concerts while I've been stuck _here_?"

"No, Roxas, that's not it, you have to listen to me--"

"Alright, you've been talking long enough." Axel said. He plucked the phone out of Roxas's hand and held it up to his own ear, clearing his throat loudly to let the screaming woman know that she was no longer talking to her son.

"Mrs. DuPont?"

"Let me talk to my son!" She cried. Axel glanced at Roxas, who was crying and was flushed and had his hands balled into fists at his sides, and sighed.

"I…don't think he really wants to talk to you right now. Plus, you've spoken to him and you know he's safe. When am I going to get my money?"

"You're not going to get your money, you child-stealing bastard!" She cried. "You're never getting your money, I swear it! Call me back when you feel like negotiating my son's return!"

With that she hung up. Axel pulled his cell away from his ear, looked at it in surprise for a few moments, shut it, and turned his attention back to Roxas. "That was exciting, was it not?"

"She's so unbelievable." He muttered, shook his head. "They were never going to pay the ransom in the first place. No matter what. They weren't going to pay you to get me back."

"Ah, it seems you've had an 'a-ha' moment." Axel grinned. "I think we're finally on the same page, kid."

Roxas swallowed and shook his head, glanced up at Axel with a desperate look on his face. "Were your parents nice to you?"

Axel snorted. "If I had had a good childhood, we wouldn't be in this position. Not that I regret where we are right now."

Roxas drew in a shuddering breath, the reality finally hitting him full-force, and hugged his knees to his chest. "How old are you?"

"You don't need to know that." Axel answered. "But if I'm ever on America's Most Wanted, you'll probably find out then. So just…be patient."

"I have no more patience." Roxas answered softly. He was afraid that if he spoke any louder he would break down, and the last thing he wanted was to be an emotional wreck in Axel's presence. "I wasted it all on my p-parents…"

"Uh-oh." The redhead's eyes went wide. "Do I see water works coming in the near future?"

The blonde sniffed and shook his head, even though he wasn't convinced himself. "N-no…"

Axel didn't have a chance to reply before his captive broke down completely, tears falling beyond his control. This was like the depression stage, except he was able to realize one thing; his parents weren't coming for him. They never were, and they weren't about to start.

Before he could bring himself under enough control to convince Axel that he was okay, he felt a strong, foreign pair of arms drawing him into their circle. He tired to calm himself down, and succeeded in doing so just enough so that he could see the front of Axel's shirt, feel Axel pulling him into his lap.

"Hate to say I told you so, Rox." He breathed, pressing his face in the blonde's crazy shock of hair. "But I did tell you so."

"I c-can't b-believe…" Roxas sobbed, grabbing tightly onto Axel's shirt and crying against his shoulder. "I can't believe that y-you are the only o-one who c-cares about me."

"Even that's a stretch." Axel murmured. He sighed and pulled Roxas closer to him, and they silently agreed to stop speaking. The only sounds that could be heard were those of Roxas's quiet sobs and whimpers, Axel hushing him, stroking his hair.

--

It took him a few hours, but Roxas finally gained control of his emotions. Axel didn't stop holding him, even after he stopped crying. As much as he hated to admit it, the redhead was warm and his lap was comfortable, and even if he could've moved he probably wouldn't have.

While they were watching TV, Xigbar glaring enviously at his partner and Roxas's face buried against Axel's shoulder, there was only one thought running through the blonde's mind; as much as he had wanted to leave, he would have no one to return to.

Axel was the only one who cared about him, even if it was just a little. Axel was the one who had comforted him in his most recent time of need when he had no one else. _Axel_ was the one who was holding him right now. _Axel_ was the one who's lap he was sitting in, Axel who was stroking his spine. Axel, Axel, Axel.

Axel was there, and his parents weren't. So even in the off chance that he had an opportunity to escape, he thought that, in all likelihood, he probably wouldn't take advantage of it.

* * *

**A/N:** Alrighty! Turning out chapters pretty quickly, I think. Which is a good thing. ;D Axel's being all cute. Its cute. And its making me happy. ^^ I think that I'm going to give you gusie one Demyx free chapter before I start pissing you all off. xDD You're gonna hate him so much...unless you like torturing Roxy. In which case you'll prolly love him. xD  
**HINT!:**You guise wont' have anything to worry about the Demyx chapters. There should only be about three-five of them, and once there over there will be so much AkuRoku yaoi/shonen ai that I think you all might die of fluff overload. xD NOT GIVING AWAY ANY MORE SECRETS! /completegiveaway

Keep reviewing! They're so sweet. 8'D  
~Sara


	11. Chapter 11

Roxas awoke to the sound of Axel typing away on his laptop, groaned, and buried his face in his pillow. "Can't you put that thing away?"

Axel glared at him briefly before turning his gaze back to the computer screen. "No, I can't. And guess what? You have Stockholm syndrome. But that's okay, because I think I might have Lima syndrome."

Roxas sat up and raised an eyebrow. "Stockholm syndrome I'm familiar with, Lima syndrome I'm not. Care to explain?"

"It's when captors feel sympathy for their victims." The redhead answered shortly, closed his laptop, and turned to face Roxas. "I don't feel sympathy for you, but I think a strong, unmotivated desire for your love counts. Would you agree?"

"Mm…I think so." Roxas looked up at Axel and smiled, who couldn't help but smile back before he glanced at the clock.

"You know, you're getting into this habit of sleeping in pretty late." Axel murmured, frowning. "Not really sure how that happened…"

"I think its because of your Lima syndrome." Roxas said. "You love me so much that you don't have the heart to get me out of bed."

"Oh, yeah." Axel replied, rolling his eyes. "That _must_ be it."

"What time is it, anyway?" Roxas asked. He leaned over Axel to glance at the clock, and noticed that it was almost noon. "Oh…"

"Oh is right." Axel placed a hand on the top of Roxas's head and ruffled his hair, and in response the blonde snorted. "Its getting late. Poor Xigbar is probably so lonely. And I'm starving."

"Xigbar is fine, and you'll be okay for another half an hour." Roxas crawled all the way into his captor's lap and curled up against his chest, enjoying the abnormal warmth that radiating from his bare chest.

"Good Lord, Roxas." Axel murmured. "You hated me yesterday, you love me today…what's next?"

"You're going to come home and find me screwing Xigbar." The blonde answered matter-of-factly. This was met with an incredulous look from Axel, who immediately wrapped his arms possessively around Roxas.

"Roxas--"

"Relax, I'm kidding." Roxas chucked and rested his head on Axel's shoulder, humming contentedly. "And, just so you know, I'm not in love with you. I'm identifying with you. There's a difference."

"And what would that difference be?"

Roxas shrugged as best he could. "Well, because my life currently depends on the decisions you make right now, I'm doing the first thing that I can think of that will save my life. It's pretty much completely subconscious. But, if it makes you feel any better," Roxas smiled and kissed the underside of Axel's jaw gently. "There's so much dopamine, norepinephrine, phenylethylamine, and serotonin flowing around in my brain that I'm under the illusion that I love you. So even if I really don't, my brain is tricking me into thinking that I do."

Axel blinked down at Roxas, his expression blank. "Roxas, how old are you?"

"Fifteen."

The redhead nodded. "Right…okay…_how_ do you know all this shit?"

Roxas chuckled and nuzzled Axel's neck, grinning. "I go to Lexington Preparatory School for Boys. I passed an exam that qualified me for college level classes. I would bet money that I know twice as much as you do."

"You're so cocky." Axel practically spat, his arms tightening a little too tightly around Roxas.

"Hey, relax." The blonde squirmed a little to give himself more room. "I bet you didn't know what chemicals induced feelings of love."

"I bet you don't know how to kidnap a fourteen-year-old boy without any witnesses." Axel smirked and Roxas swallowed loudly and moved the boy off of his lap. "Now get up. I'm fucking starving."

"You use terrible language. You know that, right?" Roxas slid out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts, not bothering to check to see if they were clean or not, and moved into the bathroom to brush his teeth and comb his hair.

"What makes you think I care?"

"You're not doing a very good job of convincing me to fall in love with you with that attitude of yours."

"Oh, you're fine." Axel walked into the living room to find Xigbar watching TV with a crestfallen expression, and raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter with you?"

"You're so lucky…" Xigbar sighed, turning his head slowly and sadly towards Axel. "You've got a beautiful young man who loves you…I'm so jealous…"

"Don't worry, bro." Axel said, moving into the kitchen. "He doesn't really love me. His brain his just doing some shit with chemicals and what not that makes him _think_ he loves me."

"It doesn't matter…" His partner sighed. "At least he doesn't…fight you."

"Maybe you should try kidnapping some of the loves of your life. If they're around you long enough, they're bound to start liking you eventually." Axel laughed and re-emerged from the kitchen, peanut butter and jelly sandwich in hand.

Xigbar shrugged, and not soon after Roxas was walking out of the bedroom, hair combed and teeth brushed. If only his clothes were pressed. "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Same thing as every day." Axel answered. "The TV is the same place it's always been, I just bought you a book, and there's food in the kitchen. Take your pick."

Roxas groaned softly and trudged over to the couch, started watching whatever it was that Xigbar was watching. Not too far behind was Axel, sitting far closer to the blonde than he usually did, earning him an envious glare from Xigbar.

--

Roxas had fallen asleep sometime around six, because Family Guy was coming on Fox and Axel was really excited to watch it. He didn't remember much before or after the redhead's spaz attack, but when he woke up, his head was on Axel's lap and Axel's arm was resting comfortably on his hip.

"Uh God…" He murmured as he sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"About nine." Axel replied immediately, watching the blonde with a sort of amused smirk. "Nice hair."

Roxas made a soft 'pfft' sound before running a hand through his hair in a vain attempt to make it look a little neater. After encountering three knots, however, he gave up on the idea.

"Did you have fun while I was asleep?" He murmured sleepily.

"No. I missed you like crazy." Axel rolled his eyes and turned his gaze back to the TV. "Roxas, you fell on my lap like, two minutes after you passed out. It was adorable. Of course I had fun."

"What'd you do? Take a picture and put it on Facebook?" Roxas chuckled and rubbed his eyes again, finally clearing his vision and blinking at Axel.

"Oh, you're funny." He smiled and glance at Roxas, who pouted.

"Yeah, whatever. Um, I'm kinda hungry." He glanced down at his abdomen, his stomach growling loudly. He had finally gained back the weight that he had lost, and after Axel had saved him from depression they were both more than eager to contribute to his weight gain.

"Yeah, okay. What do you want?" Axel muted the TV, something he never did, and stood up to walk to the kitchen.

"Can I have like, ramen?" Roxas laughed. "Its really good."

"Yeah, and its also all you've been eating for the last two weeks." He fished through some of the cabinets before sighing and walking back out into the living room. "We ran out, so I'm going to have to run to the store."

"Why can't Xigbar do it?"

"He's sleeping."

"You trust him alone with me?" Roxas raised his eyebrows and glanced into the bedroom quickly before turning his gaze back to Axel.

"You should be fine. I had a…discussion with him while you were asleep." He smiled pleasantly; the kind of smile that told Roxas that he had done something bad but probably wasn't going to talk about it.

"Oh. Okay. Will you be back soon?"

"I don't know. The traffic here is so weird…I have to go like, to the next town to go shopping, too. I think people here are starting to recognize me." He shrugged and walked over, patted Roxas on the head. "I'll be back soon enough. No worries."

"Okay. Drive safe." The blonde looked up and smiled, Axel smiled back at him, and in a moment was out the door.

Roxas contented himself with TV for about twenty minutes afterwards, looked around the room for a little while, and finally decided that there would be no harm in playing with Axel's laptop.

"Good game of hearts for the first time in over a year, Roxas." He said to himself, pulling up the screen and frowning when he remembered that the portable was password protected.

He tried quite a few things, from his name to his school's name to Axel's name. However, when he finally got the word that unlocked it, his mouth fell agape in shock.

--

There were two old women staring at him and whispering. He wasn't paranoid, it was really happening. Axel smiled politely and walked over to them, the package of ramen under his arm.

"Can I help you ladies?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. One of them shook her head 'no,' but the other one smiled at him and stepped forward.

"'Ello. Actually, I though' I remembah seein' you on the tele." Her old English accent made Axel want to run home and listen to Roxas's perfect grammar and college-level vocabulary, but he just stood there and smiled.

"Really? I can't imagine what for."

"Yeah, yeah. It was dis show, ya see. I though'…an' I might be wrong…but I _though'_ you was on that…America's Mos' Wan'ed?" She smiled a smile that immediately wiped the redhead's away. She was old, yes. Her lower-class accent was enough to let Axel know. But she was definitely with it.

"Well, like I said, I can't imagine what for." He tried to keep his expression tight and controlled. He had seen America's Most Wanted the previous Saturday, and he hadn't been on it. Nor had Reno.

…Right?

"Well, dis ol' mind could very well be wron'." She chuckled and stepped back to her friend. "I cert'nly am sorry."

"Oh, don't worry. Its really no big deal." Axel chuckled as well before he turned around and walked back over to his stolen car, trying to think of as many reasons as he could _not_ to panic; an action that proved far easier said than done.

--

"Roxas, I'm back!" He called, opening the door. "Sorry, but they only had the two pack of ramen at the store. I wasn't sure how much you wanted, so I only got one. If that's not enough I can run back…" The end of his sentence fell into the air between them as he saw Roxas staring disbelievingly at the screen of his laptop, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"_Axel,_" He read, and his voice was shaky. "_Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you. I've been really busy. To answer your question, yeah, I can baby-sit him. Just tell me this; is there going to be something in it for me more than money, if you know what I mean? Xigbar._"

"Oh shit…" Axel groaned, dropped the grocery bag and walking slowly over to the blonde. "Roxas, those emails--"

"_Xigbar,_" The blonde continued as though he hadn't even heard his captor, choking a little as he kept reading. "_You can get whatever the hell you want. You know I've always been good at sharing. I just have to warn you; I plucked the kid, so if he has half a brain he's going to be loyal to me. Don't try to steal him for your own goddamn ransom or anything stupid like that._"

Axel opened his mouth, searching his brain for some valid excuse. However, when the little blonde glanced up at him, the hurt and confusion clearly written all over his face, the only thing that was on the redhead's mind was the massive fallout this would have.

"How come…" Roxas said softly, his tone surprisingly strong and unfaltering. "How come you preach about how much you want me, and how much you want me to love you, yet you were completely willing to whore me out to your friends?"

"Roxas, that email was written _forever_ ago." Axel walked over to him, but stopped a few feet away. "I mean, so much has happened since then…"

Roxas swallowed hard and clicked on something Axel couldn't see. "Facebook update, dated three days ago, under the name Axel Schmidt. _Things are going really well. I wish someone could've seen the way this kid broke down when his mom broke the news that she wasn't ever planning on getting him back. It was almost pathetic. Good thing I was there to comfort him_."

Roxas took a deep, shuddering breath and glanced up at Axel slowly. "I can't believe I was stupid enough to believe that you actually cared about me."

Axel shook his head and closed the space between the two of them, grabbed his laptop off of Roxas's lap, placed a hand on the blonde's knee. "Roxas, don't say that. You must have--"

"Misinterpreted?" Roxas whispered, raising his eyebrows. "Read it wrong? Didn't understand? Would you care to explain it to me, Axel?"

"I…" He sighed, shook his head. "I can't, but--"

"Of course you can't." Roxas breathed, shook his head. "Get your hands off of me."

"Rox--"

"_Get your hands off of me_." Roxas growled as he stood up, tears still streaming from his eyes, and headed toward the bedroom. "I can't believe I was _stupid_ enough to think that someone like you could actually love me."

"Roxas." Axel stood up quickly and made a grab for his captive's hand, but it was quickly snatched away from him.

"I'm going to bed." Roxas said, his voice low. Axel couldn't be sure, but he thought that his voice was shaking as well. "Xigbar got up a half an hour ago and he's in the kitchen."

"Rox, come on. At least give me a chance to apologize." He grabbed the blonde's shoulders and turned him around, giving him a desperate, pleading look. When Roxas fixed him with blank look in response with hurt clearly written in his eyes, something occurred to him; Roxas was his hostage, and this shouldn't hurt as much as it did.

"Let go of me." The blonde said softly. Axel released his shoulders immediately, and Roxas walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind him. Only when he heard the redhead's footsteps let him know that he was walking away did he let the sob that had been threatening to tear from his throat finally break free.

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter made me cry! D8 I'm like, totally serious. I'm sitting here writting this, and my people are looking at my like, 'What the fuck?' xDD It was terrible. I was so sad. FAIR WARNING! The next...I dunno...maybe five chapters are going to be really sad. Or at least four. I think I might have one from Axel's point of view, which will be only a little sad. But the ones from Roxas's point of view are going to be freaking depressing.  
Also, I propose a contest. The first person who reviews this story in the new year will recieve a free request from me. ;D Just leave the same review that you normally would, but put your email address at the end of it. You'll know you won when I email you asking what you want. xDD I hope you guise don't hate me for making this sad. But it had to be done. It'll get so much better so soon. I PROMISE!  
*huggles*

~Sara


	12. Tuesday

Roxas was sitting on the couch with his legs folded neatly beneath him and watching TV when Axel emerged from the bedroom. It was rare for the blonde to actually be awake, dressed, ready, and watching TV before his captor, but in light of recent events it didn't surprise Axel in the least.

When the redhead walked over, clearing the sleep the sleep from his throat and sitting down on the couch, Roxas thought about glancing at him. He thought about apologizing for going through his laptop. He thought about a number of things, as a matter of fact, but acted on none of them.

He and Axel watched TV in silence for a few moments before Axel turned to him and cleared his throat again. "Are you hungry?" His voice was raspy, a quality very characteristic of someone who had been crying. Roxas found that hard to believe.

He shook his head no, but apparently it wasn't very convincing because Axel asked him what he wanted to eat anyway. "How does ramen sound?"

A smile threatened to tug at his lips. He hadn't asked for anything to eat since he had sent Axel out and effectively ruined anything they might've had that resembled a relationship. He just shrugged, not taking his gaze away from the TV.

"Roxas." Axel said his name flatly, but Roxas could almost _hear_ the way he raised his eyebrows. "Talk to me."

Roxas sighed and cleared his throat, shrugged again. "Xigbar said that he was going to go get something from McDonald's. You know I don't really like fast food, so…" He trailed off as he felt his throat close, tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

Axel sighed and half extended an arm to comfort Roxas, thought the better of it, and let his hand fall. "Well, after we eat, start packing. Some old lady said that I was on AMW. I didn't see anything, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Roxas nodded slowly and glanced at Axel quickly, swallowing hard to prevent himself from breaking down the second he began speaking. "Where are we going?"

Axel shrugged and reached over Roxas. The blonde held his breath, thinking for a moment that maybe his captor would try to embrace him or make amends or something of the sort, but was only met with disappointment when Axel grabbed the remote and clicked the TV off.

"I don't know. I was thinking maybe New York or Chicago. Somewhere big where we can blend in." He looked at Roxas straight on, shrugged. "I don't know."

"We should go to Chicago." Roxas said quietly. Axel raised his eyebrows in response, a smile twitching at the corners of his lips.

"Oh? Why is that?"

"I have family in New York." He didn't know why he was saying this. He should _want_ to go to New York. He should want to go there so that he can escape and make sure that Axel was caught and went to jail. Instead, however, he was protecting him. He was protecting the person who ruined his life for some reason that even he wasn't sure of.

"Oh." Axel looked a little surprised that Roxas had even said anything, but smiled at him. Roxas's breath caught in his throat. He _loved_ that smile. He wanted Axel to smile at him all the time, yet couldn't bring himself to forgive what he had read on the computer (which, why Axel was still updating his Facebook Roxas had no idea).

"Well…thanks." He smiled again and stood up, walking into the kitchen. "Did you say you wanted ramen?"

--

The drive was an incredibly long one. It seemed longer than the drive from Michigan to Nebraska, and probably was. Roxas was unsure, but he didn't really care one way or the other.

They didn't speak. Roxas wanted badly to bring up the events of the previous night, but at the same time he wanted to let the whole fiasco die. He wanted to stop the ridiculous feeling that he had for Axel, he wanted to go home, he wanted to stay…"

"Do you want to listen to music?" Axel glanced at him as they merged into another lane, and Roxas shrugged.

"Why don't you put some music on?" He smiled down at Roxas, but Roxas didn't return it as he pressed the 'on' button and they listened to Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Ah, the irony.

They continued driving in silence for a while, and after several failed attempts at striking up conversation with is captive, Axel gave up. He watched the cars in front of him with a disappointed expression adorning his face, ever once and a while glancing in his rearview mirror to make sure Xigbar was still following him, glancing at Roxas every once and a while to make sure that he was still distantly staring out the window.

Roxas's stomach grumbled just as they were coming in on the outskirts of their destination, and Axel couldn't help but chuckle. Roxas glanced at him with an expectant look, and Axel raised his eyebrows. "Hungry?"

Roxas blushed faintly and nodded, glancing out the window. In his peripheral vision, he could see Axel glancing at road signs and such before nodding. "Okay…there're a few restaurants coming up here. We're almost in Chicago…do you want me to have Xigbar pick something up once we get a place set up and everything?"

The blonde shrugged. "I guess."

Axel sighed, and that ended all conversation from that point onto the motel that Axel had found for them. Roxas was tired, his head hurt, and he felt like he needed to cry. Axel was tired, his head hurt, and he could tell that Roxas wanted to cry.

--

The motel that he had chosen for them wasn't in a good area of town. Of course, because the blonde's parents still hadn't paid the ransom, all of the money that was being used to support them was coming out of Axel's pocket. As a result, their living quarters weren't as nice as they had been went Roxas had first been kidnapped.

Hookers lined the streets near and were milling around the parking lot of their motel, male and female. Both Axel had Roxas received cat calls, and the captive sunk down so far into the seat that he was almost sure that no one could see him. He was wrong.

"Hey baby…" One of them called as Axel stepped out of the car to get his things. "When's the last time you got some?"

Axel raised his eyebrow at her, not bothering to answer the question, and walked around to the passenger's side to open the door. "Come on," He said to Roxas, tapping his shoulder. "They're just hookers. Its not like they'll kill you."

Slowly, Roxas climbed out of the car and grabbed his bag from Axel. "They're…" He started, but was at a loss for a word to describe swarm of sexual deviants that were amassing around them.

"Come on, baby…" Roxas had to have heard that at least six times, and each time Axel snorted in disgust, trying to shove his way through the crowd. "We just wanna have some fun…your little friend can even join the fun too."

"Fuck off." Axel spat at them. They recoiled as though the words had some sort of actual, physical weight and went from leering to glaring.

"Fine, be that way." They hissed. "We don't need you. We got all of Chicago, baby."

"That's great…" Axel murmured. Subconsciously, he realized, he had grabbed Roxas's hand and was leading him to their room (he had reserved it online). The blonde didn't even seem to have noticed, glancing around like he was surrounded by a pack of hungry lions. Or lionesses, as it may be.

"They're scary." Roxas whispered, and Axel chuckled once he had pulled out the key, Xigbar surprisingly close behind, and let them into the room.

"Welcome to Chicago, kid."

--

"What's today, again?"

"Tuesday." Axel and Roxas were watching TV, and Xigbar was doing God knows what in the bathroom. "Why?"

The blonde shrugged. "Just wondering."

They continued unpacking their clothes, Roxas setting his things in the drawers first so that Axel's could go on top of them. By now, he had gotten used to a one bed, one bath, one kitchen/living room set up, so when he walked into the motel and found that it was set up almost exactly like their previous quarters.

"Oh." Axel glanced up and looked at Roxas, furrowing his brow. "Are you still hungry?"

"Um…" Roxas shrugged. "I guess so."

"Damn…" Axel glanced at the bathroom door, which was shut and locked, and sighed. "Alright. I'm going to run out and get some stuff for the fridge and shit. I don't know if Xigbar will be out by the time I get back, but don't try anything, okay?"

"Wasn't planning on it." Roxas placed the last of his things in the dresser drawers and put his suitcase, bag-type thing in closet and walked out into the living room to get acquainted with the new channels.

Axel had his jacket on and his car keys in hand by the time Roxas had to program guide pulled up and was halfway out the door. "Alright. I should be back soon. I have no idea where the big grocery store is around here, so…"

"Okay." Axel paused and looked at Roxas sadly, the blonde completely oblivious.

"Okay." With that, he was out the door.

--

When the redhead came back, Roxas was sure he was drunk. There was no other reason to explain the behavior he was demonstrating. However, he had only been gone twenty minutes; barely enough time to get to the store and get back while having a drink in between.

He and the tall blonde came stumbling through the door just after the sun had set and the city was bathed in darkness. They were giggling like maniacs, and walked right past Roxas and into the bedroom. Like they hadn't even seen him there.

The blonde exchanged a glanced with Xigbar, who was standing in the kitchen, looking just as shocked as the captive. They were completely silent, the sounds of the TV quickly forgotten, the door to the bedroom slammed shut.

Roxas swallowed loudly, his vision blurring over with tears. He shouldn't feel the hurt that he did, yet all the same there was disappointment coursing through his veins. When he turned his gaze back to the TV, his attention should have been focused on what he was seeing and not on what was happening in the other room.

He shouldn't have cared when the uncontrollable giggles were replaced by strangled moans, or when he heard the loud thump against one of the walls when the room, or when the blonde who's name he didn't know cried out Axel's name.

He sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm himself, not wanting to cry, least of all in front of Xigbar. The last thing he needed was a pedophile trying to comfort him while his captor that he had fallen in love with was fucking a prostitute in the other room.

"That's so disgusting." Xigbar muttered, walking over to the couch and sitting down uncomfortably close to Roxas. "I can't believe he has the audacity to do that."

"Shut up and leave me alone." Roxas said, turning away from Xigbar and hugging a pillow as discreetly as he could manage.

"Aw, come on kid. I'm just trying to make you feel better." He reached over and placed a hand on Roxas's shoulder, but it was quickly slapped away.

"I thought I said leave me alone." The blonde's voice broke once, but it was imperceptible to Xigbar, who looked like someone had slapped him across the face, save for the bright red handprint.

"Come on, kiddo! I'm just trying to make you feel better."

"I don't need _you_ to make me feel better." Roxas hissed. In the other room, he could hear Axel's new lover breathing heavily, which was interrupted by another loud moan. "I need you to leave me alone."

"Hey, its cool. I get that you want him. But evidently, he doesn't want you." Xigbar sighed. "Its unfortunate. He has no idea what he's missing out on."

"Save your breath." Roxas spat. "I wouldn't find comfort in you even if I wanted to. Which I don't. So leave me alone."

"Now…you don't really want that, do you?" Xigbar's disgustingly curious hand wandered along Roxas's thigh, and the blonde slapped it away once more.

"Yes. I do. And despite that fact that _he's_ in there doing God knows what, he's probably going to be pretty pissed off if he comes back in and finds you trying to rape me on the couch." Roxas stood up and marched into the kitchen, taking a bottle of water out of the refrigerator of coming back into the living room. "Screw off."

Xigbar snorted. "Man, you've been spending too much time with this guy. No wonder he has a crush on you."

Roxas stopped dead in his tracks as Xigbar turned on the TV, blinking. He was sure that either Xigbar had misspoken or that he had heard wrong; surely things were the other way around. Right?

As he stood there, the bedroom door opened and the blonde came out with Axel following close behind. "Well hi there."

Roxas blinked up at the taller, older looking boy with a hair color a few shades darker than his own, glanced at Axel, then blinked. "Hi?"

"You are so _cute_!" The older blonde bent down and patted Roxas on the head, but the younger slapped his hand away with a disgusted snort.

"Keep your hands off of me, whore."

The older blonde straightened up and glanced at Axel, who was laughing into his fist, and pouted. "Well excuse me."

"Relax, Dem." Axel patted him on the shoulder and glanced at Roxas, was glaring daggers at the two of them. "He's upper crust. You know how the rich are; you could have a great personality but they'll hate you for your occupation."

"No, I'm pretty sure its his personality." Roxas said, smiling politely. "But what do I know?"

"Exactly." Axel narrowed his eyes and walked Demyx to the door, pecking him on the cheek before showing him out. "Nothing."

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was short and I hate it. xDD I'm really hoping that the next couple of chapters will get easier, because it was really hard for me to add Demyx and make Axel and Roxas be all cold and spiteful and shit. xDD Thankfully, I've determined that this will be the first of only five chapters with Dem Dem. And the last one won't even count because I've got a special surprise for you guise. [insert evil laugh here]  
Also, about the contesty thingy...  
Xanjen brought to my attention that people might be in different time zones and what not. Just so you guise know, I'm operating on EST (Eastern Standard Time) If you live in the Central U.S., midnight for me is 11 for you. PST would be 9 pm, and Moutain time would be 10. If you live outside the United States, you're going to have to google the time difference. xD So...yeah. Thanks guise!

~Sara


	13. Wednesday

The blonde hated the awkward and tense silence that had come between he and Axel. They had been in Chicago for no more than 48 hours, and already he prayed that things could go back to the way they were. Or at least…the way they were after he had determined that Axel was the one and only love of his life.

It hadn't taken more than ten minutes, but in that time Roxas had officially managed to ruin what they had. Sure, Axel was partly to blame; what kind of kidnapper updated his Facebook about the actual kidnapping? But Roxas knew that he wasn't supposed to look at the laptop, he knew that he definitely shouldn't have opened Axel's email…

It was Wednesday. Roxas was sitting on the couch, pretending to watch TV while Xigbar went to get breakfast, his attention really focused on what Axel was doing on his laptop on the other end of the couch. He wanted to believe that whatever it was, it didn't involve him; a task far easier said than done.

"I hate Wednesdays." Axel muttered after a while, effectively snapping Roxas out of his trance. "You know?"

Roxas blinked. "Um…not really."

"Well, I do. They interrupt the flow of the rest of the week. Its terrible. The only good thing about Wednesdays is new episodes of Law and Order: SVU. Which I hardly even get to watch anymore." He sighed and closed his laptop, glancing at the door for the millionth time.

"Expecting someone?" Roxas whispered, ignoring the mini-rant on his favorite day of the week.

"I am, actually." Axel grinned and turned back to the TV, rubbing his feet like they hurt. The blonde couldn't imagine why; he hadn't gotten off the couch the entire morning.

"Who?"

"I'll give you a hint; you called him a whore yesterday." The redhead frowned, as did Roxas.

"Oh." _Fabulous_. He continued mentally. _You get to rip my heart apart a little more. I'm looking forward to it._

"Don't sound so disappointed. I think he might've liked you for a few seconds there yesterday. Like, you know, before you deeply insulted him."

Roxas snorted. "I call 'em like I see 'em. Plus, he could've gone to college. But no. He's selling his body instead. He deserved it."

"Well, I guess someone's feeling a little opinionated this morning." Axel pasted that mock surprise look all over his face, but when Roxas didn't notice, he dropped it. "What if he can't afford to go to college, anyway? We're not all rich like you, Roxas."

"Then he should've gotten a real job and saved money to go to college. Or maybe finished high school and applied for a scholarship. If he's using being poor as an excuse not to go, then it means he just doesn't really want to go." _That, and he stole you from me._ Roxas shrugged.

"That still doesn't give you an excuse to call him a whore." Axel replied flatly. "I think you hurt his feelings."

_You hurt my feelings, dude. Hello?_ "How long are you planning on staying in Chicago?"

Axel frowned, not wanting to have changed the subject, but answered the question anyway. "As long as we can. I assume that the people at America's Most Wanted have only designated California and Nebraska, assuming that they've even heard of me. We should be safe here for a while."

Roxas nodded slowly. "Alright. Where's Xigbar? What's taking him so long?"

"Choir practice." Axel snorted and shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder about him."

"He tried to seduce me yesterday." Roxas commented idly, and the redhead's head snapped towards him, his expression incredulous. _Oh, so now you pay attention to me?_

"He what?"

"You heard me."

Axel ground his teeth, hands balling into fists. "I'm going to _kill_ him."

"I don't see why you should care." Roxas said, his voice just above a whisper. He glanced away from the redhead, turning his gaze to the bedroom, only to envision him leading his new lover in there, giggling like an idiot.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Axel barked at him. In response, Roxas just shook his head slowly and sucked in a deep breath in an attempt to hold tears back a few minutes longer. No matter what he tried, he couldn't bring himself to hate Axel.

"Nothing. Forget I said it." He chocked softly, and he heard Axel sigh behind him and come forward a little.

"Rox--" He took the blonde's shoulder, but didn't get much more out due to the loud, impatient knock on their door.

"Your date's here." Roxas spat in a whisper. Axel paused for a moment, but released the blonde upon a second knock on the door.

He opened it, letting Demyx in, and the second Roxas glanced over at him he wished he hadn't. The taller blonde was wearing a bustier-like thing that looked like it was made of leather, accompanied by very tight-fitting leather pants.

"I brought the stuff, Axel!" He said proudly, lifting up a bag. When he did, the end of a leather leash fell out, and Roxas gagged.

"Oh my God." He said, gagging again, the only thought running through his mind being something along the lines of, _They make that stuff_?

"What? Is little rich boy jealous?" Demyx sneered.

"No. I think I'm going to be sick." He gagged again and stood up, running into the bathroom, trying to hold down whatever it was that was coming up until he got there.

Thankfully, he made the trip without puking in either the living room or the bedroom, threw the toilet seat up, and dumped his gut immediately. Axel ran in, not far behind him, and caught his breath.

"What the hell, kid?" He gasped as Roxas flushed the toilet, wiped access what not from his mouth, and looked up at the redhead.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." He breathed, chuckled. "Can I have a glass of water or a mint or something?"

"Why, do you think its going to happen again or something?"

"It will if you don't get that away from me." He pointed at Demyx with his bag of goodies and women's clothing and all, and Axel sighed.

"Fine. Demyx, go somewhere where he can't see you."

The older blonde gave Axel a, but-that's-unfair look and crossed his arms stubbornly. "How come he gets his way? Why not make him go somewhere else?"

"Demyx." Axel said, his voice low and dangerous. "Go. Now."

Demyx blinked for a second and shook his head. "No. I want to know why."

Roxas groaned and hugged the toilet, gagging. Axel's new "friend" smelled like sex, and so did his toys, and it was disgusting. An image of the leash in use popped into the blonde's head, and not soon after he emptied his gut again.

Axel let out a frustrated sight. "_Because_ if he keeps throwing up and doesn't drink a lot of water soon, he's going to get dehydrated. If gets dehydrated, I'll have to take him to the hospital."

Demyx shrugged his shoulders. "So? I don't see a problem with that."

"You're such a flaming idiot." Roxas said, chuckling humorlessly. "Not only would he have to pay the hospital bills, which he can't afford, but he would have to give them our address. They would know where we're staying, and when he got on AMW, they would know exactly where to find us. Duh."

Axel glanced at Roxas, nodded. "That's pretty much it. Now, Dem, do me a favor here…" He used his 'you-can't-deny-me-this' face on Demyx and smiled. "And go somewhere where he can't see you? Please?"

"Ugh. Fine." The prostitute walked out of sight of the blonde, and Roxas slumped over on the floor, panting.

"Man. Some people." He grinned, and Axel glared at him.

"You, shut up. Now do you want a mint or water?"

"How about both?"

Axel fished through his pockets for a moment and grabbed a breath mint, tossed it at the blonde, who immediately popped it in his mouth. He then moved to grab a cup out of the medicine cabinet and fill it with water, handed it to his captive.

"Sensitive gag reflex, huh, kid?"

Roxas shook his head. "Bad mental image." _Of course, I wouldn't mind if _you _wanted to put _me_ on that leash._

"And it actually made you toss your cookies." Axel shook his head, combed a hand through his tangled mane of hair and chuckled. "Your poor innocent mind just couldn't take it, huh?"

"I was actually a little more concerned who that leash was for; you or him." Roxas took a sip of his water and shrugged. "I can honestly say that I can't see you as someone's bitch."

"That's probably a pretty fair assessment." Axel stood up and held his hand out for Roxas, who looked up at him with a confused expression.

"You expect me to take your hand?"

"Not unless you can walk by yourself."

Roxas snorted and placed his cup on the floor. "Of course I can." He pushed himself up and stood there for a moment, proud, but after taking his first step stumbled against the redhead.

Axel laughed and picked him up, slinging over a shoulder. "Come on."

"Hey!" Roxas hit his back with weak fists, clearly to no avail. "Put me down!"

"Okay. Hold on." Axel walked them into the living room and plopped Roxas down on the couch, said blonde landing with an 'umph' and glaring up at his captor.

"That was unnecessary."

"You couldn't walk, kid." Axel said, raising an eyebrow. "I say that was pretty damn necessary. Now get some sleep."

"I'm not tired."

"Would you like me to make you tired?" Axel grinned threateningly at Roxas, and immediately the blonde buried his face in a pillow and folded his arms beneath it.

"Sleeping." _Depends on the methods you were planning on using_. He thought, a grin threatening to creep onto his face.

"Good boy."

--

Axel and Demyx crept out of the bedroom a few hours later. Axel was looking at the blonde's apparently sleeping body with small amounts of affection in his eyes, until his _other_ blonde turned to look at him.

"Is he sleeping?" His voice was definitely above a whisper, and Axel was tempted to slap him and tell him to have some respect. However, before he could answer, Roxas did it for him.

"No I'm not sleeping, you dim-witted prawn." Axel snorted at this, but Demyx just looked satisfied that he had gotten an answer. Not that the cut would mean anything to him; he probably didn't even know what a prawn was. Or what dim-witted meant, for that matter.

"Oh. Okay." Axel's captive slowly sat up, rubbing his forehead. He glanced around and blinked a few times, and Demyx was looking at him like the kid was an exhibit in a zoo.

"Whoa. Déjà vu all over again." He rubbed his forehead and blinked again, and Axel couldn't fight back his chuckle.

"What the hell is that?" Demyx said, his pride making Axel want to squirm. "A pretend language?"

Roxas's expression deadpanned. "Can someone really be this stupid?" He chuckled humorlessly. "It's French, Captain Oblivious."

"Really?" Demyx looked excited. Like, really excited. Axel blinked, finding himself unable to think of a word to describe that level of stupidity. "Say something else!"

"With pleasure." Roxas sneered. "Vas te faire encule."

"Roxas." Axel gave the blonde a leveling stare, a frown creasing into his expression. He had taken enough high school French to know what that meant, and despite that he wanted to laugh, saying 'Fuck you.' to Demyx wouldn't really be in keeping with his current persona.

"What?"

"Be nice."

"He asked me to say something!" He said defensively. Axel shrugged and grabbed Demyx's hand, led him over to the door. The smaller of the two blondes just scoffed on the couch, crossings his arms stubbornly as the redhead lead his "lover" over to the door.

"What did he say?" Demyx whispered. Axel pasted that ever-so-fake patient smile on his face, shaking his head.

"Something not very nice."

"Oh. Okay." He smiled and leaned forward, pecking Axel on the cheek. "Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Um…maybe. It depends on how things play out." He smiled again and opened the door, all but shoving Demyx out. "I'll text you!"

As soon as he turned around and glanced at Roxas, he was met by that hurt, confused, disappointed look that he had worn for the last two days. The blonde wasn't looking directly at him, but it showed all the same.

_Say something._ He thought, sighed, and walked over to the couch. "Are you hungry?"

"Not anymore." Roxas said, glancing at the bedroom with a look of disgust. "Ask me after you do the laundry."

* * *

**A/N: **Wow. Okay. I think the next...two or three chapters are going to be pretty short. I really hate doing this. D8 I would stop, but for some strange reason I made the last chapter on a Tuesday, and this stuff with Demyx HAS to end on a Saturday. *has already said too much but doesn't really care* So...yeah. The leash thing! xDDD I just had this dream, and Roxas was on a leash and Axel was being all D and I just couldn't resist. xD I hope you guise enjoy that as much as I did.  
Urm...yeah. The New Year is in a few hours! *is totally jazzed* I can't wait to see how many comments I get~

~Sara


	14. Contest Winners

Roxas glanced at the TV and grinned, as though he was looking at an audience. "Hey, everyone."

Axel gave him a look like he was insane, eyebrows raised. "Um…who are you talking to?"

The blonde ignored him and kept on going. "I know that you're all probably really excited to learn the results of our New Year's contest. The challenge was this; anyone who reviewed this story at exactly midnight on the day of the new year would be allowed to request something in the literature department from out beloved ghostie-girl13."

The redhead's eyes were wide and he took one of Roxas's shoulders, trying to shake the unfaltering smile from his face. "Roxas. Are you okay? Roxas!"

"Well, to satisfy your curiosity, I will be announcing the winners. Congratulations to 1 _and_ Xanjen, both of whom posted a review at exactly midnight. There won't be any tie breaker; you both my offer a request.

"You may contact ghostie-girl13 at penguinsrule96 gmail . Com (I apologize for the spaces; apparently doesn't allow the posting of emails) with your request included. As for all of you who didn't win--"

"ROXAS!" Axel screamed and glanced frantically at Xigbar, who was watching the two of them like they were a circus show.

"--as a condolence prize, she will tell you this; you know that relationship between Axel and Demyx that's completely broken my heart?"

Axel stopped and blinked, glancing at Demyx, who was standing in the threshold of the doorway. "Wait, what?"

"She would like you all to know that," Roxas continued. "Because she does pity me and my fragile emotional state, the relationship will only last for another two chapters. The last chapter, however, will barely even count because there will be lots of fluff and my heartache will come to an abrupt end when Axel breaks down in my arms for having caused me pain."

"What the hell?" Axel glanced around the room, his expression one of paranoia. "Roxas, _what are you talking about_?"

"I hope you all had a happy New Year, and Merry Christmas. See you all in chapter 13!"


	15. Friday

Axel crept as silently as he could into the living room, but even so it didn't prevent Roxas from casting him that disappointed, half-expectant look that he always did. Axel silently reminded himself that he would have to be extra nice if there was even a small glimmer of hope that he would make Roxas jealous using Demyx.

"What the hell are you doing?" The blonde asked, his tone flat. Xigbar was sitting next to him on the couch, watching Axel with a look of confusion that was meant to mimic Roxas's. He wasn't doing a good job.

"You know something, Roxas?" Axel asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm offended."

"Join the club." Roxas muttered, turning his gaze back to the TV. The redhead frowned and stepped forward, effectively blocking his captive's view. Roxas gave him another expectant look.

"Don't think I don't know what today is."

"Um…Friday?"

Axel held out the box that had been hidden behind his back and shrugged. It was wrapped beautifully in blue wrapping paper (which he knew to be the blonde's favorite color), but only because he had gotten it done at the store. There was a tag on it that read, 'To: Roxas, From: The person who supposedly ruined your life.'

The blonde looked at the package, then at Axel, then back at the package and shrugged. "Great. It's a wrapped box. That's lovely."

"Well aren't you going to open it?" Axel asked. He placed it on Roxas's lap because apparently his captive wasn't capable of doing it himself, and knelt down next to the couch, watching expectantly.

Roxas sighed and unenthusiastically started tearing at the paper to reveal what was underneath. Once he saw the green logo, however, his demeanor changed over-so-slightly, and a smile twitched at the corner of his lips.

Axel couldn't help but swell with pride that his gift had actually made Roxas happy, still eagerly watching for the reaction that he was looking for. "You've got to be kidding me."

Axel smiled faintly, so terribly tempted to pull Roxas into his arms, but resisted the urge. "Happy birthday."

Roxas chuckled and shook his head, looking over the xbox and the game he had included (Halo, or something like that. Axel wasn't really privy to the different games that were out there) with a disbelieving expression. "My birthday was quiet a while ago."

"But I couldn't afford an xbox quite a while ago." The redhead shrugged again and lifted the lid off the box, revealing the huge gaming console underneath. "Now I can."

Roxas blinked and paused for a moment as though a thought was running through his mind, but soon enough he was smiling again and looking over the game. "Halo. Very nice, very nice."

"You know it?"

"Of course I know it. What's wrong with you?" Roxas's temporary amusement had grown to be a full-blown smile, and the redhead could feel his heart swell. "I um…I used to play this at home all the time."

"Oh, really?" Axel pulled the xbox out along with the instructions, flipping through them for setup instructions. "Do you even think we can get it to work on this TV?"

"I'm sure we can." Roxas replied. He grabbed the instructions out of Axel's hand and looked through them, nodding. "Yeah, it'll be easy."

"Well, by all means get started." Before the words had even exited Axel's mouth, Roxas was on his hands and knees, plugging different wires in different sockets eagerly.

--

"Oh my God. You're so bad at this." Roxas laughed as Axel tried to shoot at something, failing miserably. Xigbar had sadly meandered into the kitchen about two hours ago, leaving captor and captive sitting on the couch.

Roxas was playing the game. He was surprisingly good at it, given that, from what Axel had collected earlier, the kid was a bit of an art nerd. Axel, on the other hand, was trying to play that game.

The little blonde had walked him through all of the controls and all of the steps necessary to survive their first "mission," even incorporating a little flirting (or so the redhead thought) as he held Axel's hands firmly on the controller and tried to familiarize him with the way it felt.

"Axel, come on!" Roxas laughed again as he killed a couple of their enemy, whatever they were, and went to his partner's rescue somewhere in some sort of building.

"I don't know why you even try, kid. I suck." He tossed his controller on the table, effectively killing himself and leaving Roxas to survive on his own. Not that that's exactly what he was doing before.

"You're such a baby." Roxas snorted, playing through the level and pausing it a few minutes later, once he had finished. "You're never going to learn if you keep quitting."

"Yeah, well, whatever." Axel shrugged him off and grinned, and Roxas playfully smacked him on the arm. Silently, Axel sent up a thanks to God or deity or whatever there was that they seemed to be back to where he wanted them to be. That Roxas was happier.

"Is Halo the only game you got?" He asked after a few more moments of comfortable silence, his fingers expertly pressing this button and that button and moving him easily through the level.

"Halo is the only game I could afford, kid."

Roxas glanced up and shook his head. "No, I didn't mean it like that. I was just wondering if you were holding out on me or anything. You know; mix it up a little."

"I wish I could say I was." Axel shrugged and glanced at the TV, which was still paused. "Maybe once your parents finally pay for you I can get some more games."

Roxas smiled and glanced at Axel, a tint of sadness in his eyes before it was replaced by that playful glint that matched his eyes so well. "Yeah, well, the hope spring is eternal, as they say."

Axel chuckled and leaned over, about two seconds away from placing a gentle kiss on Roxas's cheek, when Demyx came bursting through the door. "Axel!"

Roxas sighed and closed his eyes, and Axel heard him gulp loudly, saw tears collecting in the corner of his eye. Axel sighed and leaned back, trying to fight back tears of his own, knowing that the pain that Roxas was feeling was his fault.

"I have been waiting for your text for _six hours_!" He stomped over to Axel, pouting, arms crossed stubbornly. "I come here, and see you playing some stupid game with…"

He glanced at Roxas, holding his nose in the air as though he couldn't find the words to describe how much he disliked the younger blonde. The blonde that had stolen Axel's heart.

"Sorry, Dem." Axel said. He sighed and stood up, walked over to the door. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere that isn't here." Demyx walked over to him and took his arm, smirking at Roxas, who was looking at the two of them, particularly Axel, with sad/disappointed expression.

Axel looked at him slowly a few moments longer before nodding, opening the door and leading Demyx outside. He slammed it behind him, locking it from the outside and taking them a few feet away from the door. Once he was sure he was out of earshot, he stopped them and fixed his least favorite blonde with a cold stare.

"Axel? What's wrong?"

The redhead chuckled and shook his head before picking up one of his hands and bringing it down across Demyx's cheek with a loud, satisfying crack. As the prostitute registered the blow, he shoved him up against a wall and held him there.

"You really need to be nicer to Roxas." He hissed.

Demyx whimpered and shoved weakly against Axel. "What are you talking about? I thought--"

"You know why I hired you." Axel growled, released Demyx, and continued down the walkway and to his car without checking to see if he was being followed. "And it wasn't because of your radiant personality. Now come on. We have a date we're supposed to be on."

--

"You know that if I was in his position, I would appreciate you." Xigbar picked up the controller that Axel had set down and was pressing random buttons, watching Roxas out of the corner of his eye.

The blonde had pretty much curled up into crying ball of sadness, hugging a pillow closely to himself and letting his tears silently fall against it and be absorbed. He didn't even look up at Xigbar as he spoke, trying his best to pretend that Axel's partner wasn't even there.

"Now, I know how badly you want him. I know that you're set on getting him and all that, but let's face it…" He leaned over to Roxas and placed at hand on his shoulder, and if Roxas had any energy he would have shrugged him off. Of course, Xigbar interpreted this action as Roxas welcoming the advance. Which he didn't.

"He doesn't want you, and I do. And wouldn't you much rather be with someone who wants you than someone who doesn't appreciate you?"

"Get your disgusting pedophile hands off of me." Roxas growled, looking up from the pillow, his red-rimmed eyes narrowing at Xigbar. "You know if you do anything to me Axel will--"

"He'll what?" Xigbar asked, laughing. "You already know he doesn't care about you, so why should he care what I do to you?"

"Xigbar, get your hands off of me!" Roxas trying scooting away from him, but to no avail; he was trapped. Alone. With a pedophile.

--

"Am I going to see you tomorrow?" Demyx asked, smiling up at Axel. The redhead sighed and nodded slowly, glancing at Demyx.

"Unless anything changes. Which I doubt it will. Plan on meeting me tomorrow and…I'll text you if anything changes. Okay?"

Demyx giggled and nodded, walking down to hallway to join his coven of whores that hung out around the motel. "Okay."

Axel sighed again, took a deep breath, and opened the door, bracing himself for another upset Roxas. However, he was met with at least three things that were definitely out of the norm when he walked in.

First of all, he heard the shower running. Xigbar was definitely in the kitchen, so Axel knew that it wasn't him, and Roxas wasn't supposed to shower when Axel wasn't there.

Second, not only was Xigbar in the kitchen, but he was walking around with a broad smirk on his face. Regardless of the fact that the smirk was Axel's signature expression, Xigbar never wore one. For him to all of sudden have one pasted all over his face was very uncharacteristic.

Third, Roxas was definitely sobbing. Axel could hear him over the roar of the shower. Glancing at the clock, he saw that he had been gone for three hours; Roxas would have had plenty of time to work out all of his sadness a while ago. This was wrong.

He slammed the door behind him and walked past the kitchen, ignoring Xigbar's proud grin, through the bedroom, and straight into the bathroom. Roxas's clothes were piled on the floor, and he was sitting, naked, under the constant stream of steaming hot water.

"Roxas." Axel called him and knelt down, the blonde not meeting his gaze, whimpering pathetically. "Roxas, look at me."

The blonde was ignoring him, and after a while Axel decided he was just going to have to be proactive. He turned off the water, to which Roxas glanced up at him desperately. "Axel."

"Roxas, what the hell are you doing?" He grabbed a towel and gave it to Roxas, who just looked at it as it rested against his knees. "Hello?"

"Axel." He whispered. He glanced back up at the redhead and scrambled over to him, wrapped his arms around the other's neck. "Axel, he…he…"

Roxas broke down and buried his face against Axel's shoulder as the towel was wrapped around him, sobbing as he was picked up in his captor's arms, sobbing as Axel took him into the living room and hushed him gently, stroking his hair while trying to dry him off.

"Rox, what happened?" He whispered gently, hugging the blonde tightly against him. "I promise nothing is going to happen to you, so why don't you tell me what went down?"

"You l-left." Roxas breathed, grabbed onto Axel's t-shirt as if to confirm that he was still there. "And Xigbar s-said all this shit, and he r-r-r…" He couldn't finish his sentence, breaking down again. Axel held him tightly and pressed his face his the boy's hair.

"He…raped you?"

The blonde nodded quickly and hugged Axel closer. The redhead sighed and nodded slowly, glancing behind him in the kitchen. Xigbar was still in there, sitting at the table, and Axel growled as he envisioned that smirk on his face.

"Axel…" Roxas curled against him into a little ball and sniffed, the stream of tears thinning until they ceased completely and all was left were whimpers.

"Don't worry, Rox." Axel breathed. "I promise I'm going to take care of this. Okay?"

He didn't receive a response, and for a moment thought that Roxas was giving him the silent treatment. He glanced down, but noticed immediately that he had fallen asleep against Axel, breathing steadily, looking…peaceful.

He smiled faintly and picked him up, took him into the bedroom, pulled the sheets back, and placed Roxas gently on the mattress. He pulled the covers up to his chin and smiled softly as Roxas snuggled under the warmth of the blankets, relaxed.

Tearing his gaze away from the blonde, he grabbed the gun that resided in his bedside drawer and screwed the silencer on, stood up, strode into the kitchen. He had been right; Xigbar was still sitting in there, still smirking.

"Axel, man, you will never believe--"

"Oh, I believe it." Axel picked him up by the hair and shoved him against a wall, and Xigbar looked down at him in surprise. "I thought I made it perfectly clear to you once you arrived that you weren't to touch Roxas."

"But dude--"

"Damn it, Xigbar!" He yelled, put the gun up against the other's temple and cocked it. "You're disgusting."

"You're one to talk." Xigbar spat. "I guess it's okay when you rape him and then cheat on him, but its not okay when I try to give him a little attention?"

"Unwanted attention." Axel growled. "I don't care how you justify it, either. Al I need to know is that _I_ want _him_, _he_ wants _me_, and I left you alone with him for three hours and came home to find him crying in the shower."

His partner opened his mouth to try to formulate an excuse, but before any words came out, Axel pulled the trigger.

* * *

**A/N:** I love this chapter. Like, seriously. xD There's comfort at the end, and...yeah. I'm sure you guise can imagine what happened to Xigbar. But hey, can't say we didn't warn him. :D Now, I'm sure you guise are probably thinking 'Hm, ghostie sure is an idiot. She labeled this chapter Friday, but its supposed to be Thursday!' Well, you're wrong. Thursday was stupid. It would be plotless, I hate it, so I skipped it. So there. xD  
There's going to be so much fluff in the next chapter. ;D I'm so excited. I can't wait. You guise are going to love it. I'm going to love it. It's going to be lovely.  
Also, I want to extend a congratulations to 1 and Xanjen, who were the winners of our New Year's contest. ;D For all of you who didn't win, fear not! There will be another contest most likely following the epilogue. And the epilogue will be awesome, so you'd better enjoy it. xP

Random fact: Roxas is Wiccan in my story. o.o Just thought I'd let you guise know.

~Sara


	16. Saturday

"Demyx!" Axel hissed, opening the door for the tall blonde who was running down the hallway with a look on his face like he knew he was going to get in trouble. "I told you to be here two hours ago!"

"Sorry!" Demyx whispered back, coming into the dark room and blinking a few times before his eyes got adjusted to the lack of light. "I had an appointment, and it lasted a little longer than I thought it would."

Axel sighed. "Okay, whatever. Come on, its this way." He grabbed Demyx by the elbow and led him across the dark living room and into the kitchen.

"Where's the little snot?" Demyx whispered as Axel got his bearings in the darkness and started getting this and that out of the cupboards.

"_Roxas,_" Axel corrected, flipping on a light. It revealed the now very deceased Xigbar with a hole in his forehead, blood and brain matter spattered all over the wall behind him, dripping down to the floor. "Is sleeping."

Demyx's mouth fell agape, and he looked at Axel almost in fear. "Man, you said it was bad, but this is just…" He stopped and took a deep breath, shook his head a few times, sighed. "What'd he do?"

"Something I told him not to do." The redhead answered simply. "Now, come on. Regardless of how strong I am, I can't carry this lard and open the trunk of a car at the same time."

Demyx nodded as Axel picked the body up and slung it over his right shoulder, letting out a gasp at the added weight (of late Xigbar had clearly put on a few pounds) and looked straight at Demyx.

"Okay, this is what you have to do. This is really heavy, so once we get to the front door, open it for me. Go downstairs ahead of me, pop the trunk of my car so that when I get there I can just drop it in. Okay?"

"Okay."

They started walking, Demyx opening the door just on time and slipping out just before Axel, the door closing on its own. Axel walked purposefully down the hallway and flew down the stairs, his blonde companion only inches ahead of him.

"Demyx, hurry up!" He hissed. "I'm not going to be able to carry this leviathan for much longer."

"Did you just diss a dead guy?" Demyx asked as he popped the trunk, Axel dumped his load inside just in time.

"Yeah, Dem, I just dissed a dead guy." He was panting, but once he caught his breath and slammed the trunk shut he quickly looked around to see if anyone had seen them. However, even if they had, it was Chicago is hooker central; who was going to call the police?

"Now…get in the car." Demyx nodded and climbed in the open driver's side, slamming the door after him, started the car, rolled down the window.

"What am I doing again?"

"You're going to drive this thing down that way," He pointed north, down an empty highway that led to a huge expanse of grass. "Spill gas all over it, and set in on fire. Watch it for a little while to make sure it catches and burns, then high tail it out of there. If you do it right, there shouldn't be anything left to implicate us. Got it?"

Demyx was nodding, his expression dream-like. "Yeah. Yeah, I got it."

"Damn it, Demyx." Axel hissed, walking around to the other side of the car and getting into the passenger's seat. "Why do you have to be such an idiot?"

"Well Christ Axel." Demyx whined, pouting. "What're you waiting for, a hot date?"

"I was actually planning on spending a nice evening with _Roxas_, thank-you very much." He sighed. "Just waltz in there…watch America's Most Wanted together…cuddle on the couch…"

"Yeah, that's nice." Demyx said, shaking his head and pulling out of the parking lot in the direction that the redhead had indicated. "Well, you're not. You're stuck with me because apparently I can't get rid of the body of the guy you _killed_ the way you want me to."

"Just shut up and drive." He hissed, immediately cursing himself for the corny song reference.

Demyx made a soft 'humph' sound, but didn't say anything after that. He and Axel came to the end of the pavement very quickly, and continued driving for about two miles after that so that they were far enough away from the motel as to prevent anyone from seeing them.

"Pop the trunk." Axel said, grabbing the gasoline. Demyx did as he was asked, and as soon as he was out of the car Axel began dousing everything in the flammable liquid, the last thing being Xigbar's body.

"Ready for a show, Dem?" He asked, grinning. Demyx nodded and grinned as well.

Axel stuck one of his clove cigarettes in his mouth (he hadn't had a smoke for months considering that Roxas wouldn't stop griping about the smell; this was a good excuse for one) and lit it, threw the lighter on the car, and watched as it burst into flames.

"Pretty cool, huh?" He asked, taking a longer drag.

"Pshya!" Demyx looked like a kid in a candy store, and Axel couldn't help but laugh. "Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"Its pretty easy to figure out, Dem." He shrugged. "But for all intensive purposes? Reno."

"Ah."

"Well, come on. I still have to clean up the mess I made, and I really don't want Roxas to wake up while I'm gone."

--

Axel didn't really realize exactly how big his mess was until he was faced with the task of cleaning it up. He had his gloves, he had his squeegee, he had the bleach and ammonia and Windex® and what not, and he was ready to go. All he had to do was start. Which proved to be a very difficult task.

"Wall, or floor?" He asked himself over and over again. The wall was pretty damn nasty, but he couldn't clean the wall without cleaning the floor. If Roxas were to wake up and ask him what he was doing, he wanted the blonde to see the floor, not the wall covered in brain matter.

He sighed and let himself into the bedroom, light washing over Roxas. The kid was sleeping like a rock; a good sign. Axel nodded, closed the door, walked back into the kitchen. "Floor."

He scraped and washed and scrubbed, rinsed and dried and washed and dried again. Blood, he discovered, was not as easy to clean as they made it seem in the movies. He had to repeat that process about three times on the floor until you couldn't tell there had been a body there before he could start on the wall.

He repeated his process over and over and over again. Naturally, he was surprised; whoever thought that there could have been this much brain hiding in Xigbar's head? Evidently it had been there; the pedophile probably just never used it.

Once the cleaning was finished, Axel was left with four red rags (rags that had been white when he started) an empty container of bleach, an empty container of ammonia, a half-full (Axel liked to think of himself as an optimist) bottle of Windex® and a kitchen that smelled like harsh chemicals.

"First thing's first." He breathed, grabbed an air fresher than Roxas had insisted he buy (apparently he hated the way the motel smelled like sex. Whatever sex smelled like) and sprayed the entire kitchen.

He grabbed all of his cleaning supplies, but it in a grocery bag, and dumped it by the front door. His gloves were the last things to go, and the redhead was careful not to get any blood on his hands as he dropped them in the bag along with all of the other things.

_One thing before I go…_He thought, cut across the living room, and opened the door to the bedroom. Roxas was still fast asleep, laying on his back with his hands folded neatly on top of his chest.

Axel, keeping the door cracked, walked in as silently as he could and sat down on the edge of the bed. He reached up and brushed his hand across the blonde's cheek, and, in his sleep, Roxas's nose twitched.

"So cute." Axel whispered, smiling. At Roxas was, honestly, the most adorable thing he had ever seen. If there was a good Roxas would succumb to the Stockholm syndrome and be able to forgive all of the shit that Axel put him through in their first year together.

He leaned down slowly, cupping Roxas's cheek, and placed a gentle kiss on his captive's forehead. Roxas made a soft 'mmph' sound, his head falling to his right (Axel's left) and he shifted in his sleep.

Axel sighed, chuckled, stood up to leave. He closed the bedroom door tightly on his way out, turned off the light in the kitchen, grabbed his bag of cleaning supplies, and prayed that he wouldn't be long.

--

The scene that met him when he returned was…most undesirable. Roxas had, evidently, woken up. He was sitting in front of the TV, the light that it was emanating the only light in the entire apartment (because their room was more like a small apartment than anything).

"Roxas?" Axel called, taking a few steps inside and closing the door behind him. The blonde didn't answer him, and when the redhead got a few feet closer, he noticed Roxas's tear stained cheeks.

_Damn it, Axel_. He thought. _What the hell did you do to mess up THIS time?_ "Roxas." He took a few steps closer, and the blonde finally looked up at him, sniffling.

"You missed America's Most Wanted." He whispered. Axel noticed that he was hugging a pillow to his chest, squeezing the life out of the thing.

_Oh…shit._ "I did?" He walked over and sat down on the couch next to Roxas, who just nodded slowly and closed his eyes. "Did I miss anything…important?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. Roxas sucked in a deep breath and stiffened visibly, both angry and hurt vibes radiating off of him. "I recorded it." He whispered.

"Oh. Okay." Axel grabbed the remote (unsure if this was the correct course of action; history was there to show that he wasn't very good in relationships) and rewound the DVR to the opening of America's Most Wanted.

He and Roxas watched in silence for a while, sitting for about a half an hour before what he wanted to see was finally shown. "Now, here's a case that's really touched me deep in my heart."

_Oh…great._ Axel sighed and kept watching, John Walsh walking across the set of AMW. "About a year ago, a little boy was kidnapped."

Roxas snorted at this, and it was a little difficult for Axel to suppress his chuckle. He knew that Roxas hated being referred to as 'little,' so for the entire nation to see that probably really ground his gears.

"He was taken from a rough neighborhood right outside of his BelAire home on a hot June day last year. We believe that he was walking home from school," Right about then, the reenactment began to play. The actor who played Roxas looked very similar to the little blonde (save for the adorable pink cheeks and playful smile) but the actor who played Axel was way off; brunette with brown eyes. And he looked short.

"…when he was approached by a man in a 1967 Powder Blue Chevy. Witnesses say that they spoke for a few minutes, the boy who was later identified as Roxas DuPont trying to avoid the unidentified pervert for as long as he could."

"I'm not a pervert." Axel said, snorting. "Am I?"

Roxas didn't respond, eyes fixed on the screen, and Axel took that as a bad sign. "Finally, however, Roxas was broken down until he climbed in the car to be led to a fate that no one saw coming."

The reenactment continued for a few moments, up until the part where Wannabe-Roxas starts freaking out because Wannabe-Axel isn't taking him home like he said he would.

"We need your help to help us catch this scumbag. We've had many calls already on this case, and the suspect could very well be a Reno Russo." A picture of Reno flashed on the screen, along with everything the viewing audience needed to know about him.

"This kid has a terrible rap sheet already, at the age of only 21. He's tall, standing at about 6'3", and skinny, weighing a mere 150 lbs. This is what he looked like in high school, but he may have changed his look since then, acquiring two teardrop tattoos on both cheeks.

"If you see this loser, give us a call. Roxas's parents are eagerly awaiting his return home, and I bet this kid can't wait to be reunited with them. And remember; you _can_ make a difference."

Roxas turned the TV off as soon as their story was over, and glanced over at Axel. "You are Reno are twins, right?"

Axel blinked and nodded slowly, his eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. "Yeah. Why?"

"Do you realize that if you get caught, you'd be throwing your life away?" Roxas's voice had taken on a sharp edge, and Axel hated it. It was far too uncharacteristic for his liking.

"I guess so." The redhead shrugged. "But if I ever get the money--"

He was interrupted by a harsh stinging sensation on his cheek, a loud crack resounding through the room. "You idiot!" Roxas yelled at him, sobbing. "Can't you see that this isn't about the money anymore?"

"Roxas--"

"No. I don't want to hear anymore of your fucking excuses." Roxas spat. He let out another soft sob and shook his head. "You're so blind, Axel."

"Rox, will you at least give me a chance to explain?"

"Explain what?" The blonde shook his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. The light from the street outside was finally starting to show through the windows, and Axel could see exactly how upset he was. "Explain how at 20 you feel it's necessary to kidnap the son of the twelfth richest man on Earth? Or how you feel it's necessary to update your Facebook about how utterly depressed I am? Or how…" He stopped and took a deep breath, the next thing that he was planning to throw at Axel clearly hurting him as much as it was intended to hurt his captor. "How you can parade around here with a prostitute when you know full well how I feel about you?"

"Roxas…" Axel sighed and shook his head. "I didn't even _want_ to kidnap you, okay? I was in college when Reno came up with this master plan of his. When he bailed out, I was stuck here, and I wasn't about to give you back and pretend nothing happened, given how difficult it was. Secondly, _that's not even my account_. Reno was being an asshole and made on under our great grandfather's name, I'm named after him--"

"Shut up!" Roxas yelled. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! I hate you!" He hit Axel on the arm a few times, but weakly. "Do you hear me? I hate you!"

He fell back against the arm of the couch, breathing deeply. They were both silent for a while until Roxas's tears came to a grinding halt, leaving him glaring at Axel. The redhead took a shuddering breath, shook his head.

"I suppose this was inevitable…" He drew his feet up on the couch and laid down, resting his head on Roxas's shoulder. This was met with a surprised gasp from the younger of the two, but Axel didn't move.

"Its really too bad that you feel so strongly against me." He whispered. "Because to tell you the truth, I'm completely taken with you."

He chuckled humorlessly and nuzzled Roxas's neck. "I know that the odds of you being able to like, actually forgive me for the shit I've put you through a really slim, but its only fair for you to know how sorry I am."

"Um…Axel…" Roxas shook his head, unsure of how to respond. However, when he felt warm, salty tears falling silently against his neck, he decided that words weren't what he needed to use.

Slowly, he began stroking Axel's hair, wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Axel you don't have to--"

"Yes, I do." The redhead sniffed loudly and shook his head, hiding his face against Roxas and trying to make as little sound as possible as tears continued to fall from his eyes. "I love you, and I'm sorry. I love you _so much_."

The blonde chuckled and buried his face in Axel's hair. "I love you, too."

* * *

**A/N:** I love this chapter! 8D The next few are going to be soooo fluffy. But then it's gonna be sad. But then I'll write the epilogue and it'll be fluffy again. But then it'll be over. D8 I really don't want this story to end. xD I love it so much. But once it's over I have another few ideas in the works for you guise, so you won't be without reading material for long. I promise. xP  
Now, didn't I tell you that this chapter was going to be full of fluff and lovely things? And did I disappoint? xD In the next chapter, you can expect Axel to not only tell but _show_ Roxas how much he loves him. xD Its going to be nice. And lemony.  
To Xanjen: I lied. Lemon in the next chapter. xD  
I love you guise!

~Sara


	17. Chapter 16

"Ah…!" Roxas's back arched off the mattress and into Axel's chest as the redhead plowed into him, eyes tearing up from pleasure. "Axel!"

Axel moaned against Roxas's neck, each of their bodies slick with sweat, each of them craving a release. They had been going at this for hours, and the blonde didn't know how much more he would be able to withstand before he passed out. Axel was much in the same position, given the fact that Roxas was surprisingly difficult to satisfy.

"Yes!" Roxas hissed, trying to spread his legs further for Axel but finding the task a little difficult given the fact that he had already pushed his body to the limit trying to give his new lover the best experience possible.

"God Roxas…" Axel groaned, heat pooling uncomfortably in his stomach, just begging to be let go. "You're so insatiable."

"Shut up." Roxas breathed in response, just before his back arched impossibly. He came for what felt like the millionth time that night, Axel not far behind. He collapsed on his captive's/lover's chest, both of them breathing heavily.

"Did you know," Roxas said, trying to catch his breath, staring at the ceiling. "That the average male can climax six times in 36 minutes?"

"I bet I could make you prove that correct." Axel responded. Upon glancing up, he noticed Roxas's deep red blush (for some reason, the little blonde thought that it was kinky to have sex with the lights off, which is why Axel was able to see anything at all) and chuckled.

"You're such a pervert."

"You know you love me~" Axel grinned and kissed Roxas's neck, rolling off of him just to pull him into his arms seconds later. Roxas snuggled against the other's side until he was comfortable, absorbing Axel's warmth.

"You're so warm." He whispered after a while, and Axel nodded, burying his face in Roxas's hair.

"I know. Runs in the family."

"You're welcome." Roxas chuckled and sighed, glancing around the room. It was still light, given that they hadn't turned out either of the lamps that he had demanded stayed on. "What's today again?"

"Um…" Axel glanced at the clock on his bedside table, took note of the time. "Sunday, as of one hour and fifty-four minutes ago."

Roxas blushed again and hid his face against Axel's shoulder. "Oh my God."

"I know. We were at it for hours." Axel laughed and began stroking Roxas's spine, grinning. "I mean, I got home at like, ten after ten…then we "talked," and then you asked me to--"

"Yeah, Axel, I know what I ask you to do." Roxas cut him off before he had to be reminded of his pathetic request which Axel had more that eagerly obliged. He had been carted off to the bedroom at about ten thirty, and Axel had screwed him straight through two in the morning.

"Aw, Roxy, are you embarrassed?" He chuckled, kissing the top of Roxas's head. "You shouldn't be."

"Yeah, well, I am." Roxas sighed. "I don't know. This whole thing is just so weird."

"How so?"

"Well, for starters, I'm supposed to hate you." Roxas kissed Axel's shoulder as a 'but-I-don't' gesture to let him know that there were no hard feelings, regardless. "I mean, all the shit that's happened in the last 18 months…it's just crazy. I feel like…"

Axel glanced down at him as best he could, eyebrow raised. "Feel like what?"

"Like I don't belong anywhere. Or with anyone, for that matter. I mean, my family doesn't want me, and even if they did I don't want to go back to them. And you're…well…you're you." He shrugged. "It's just really weird."

"You don't feel like you belong with me?" Axel's tone of voice conveyed a small amount of hurt, and Roxas scoffed.

"It's not that, it's just…like, I hated you for the better part of the time I've been with you. If I was thinking straight at all, I would still hate you. No offense, love," Roxas said, smiling weakly. "But you're not really the kind of guy I could bring home to mom and dad, y'know?"

Axel clicked his tongue. "Oh really?"

"Oh relax, you big baby." Roxas playfully shoved his shoulder, but it did nothing to improve Axel's newly soured demeanor. "What, am I going to go home and be like, 'Mom, Dad, this is the guy who kidnapped me. He's kind of a jerk, but I like him so you shouldn't call the police and instead let me be with him.'? I don't think so."

"Roxas, I'm not liking the direction this conversation has taken." Axel muttered. "I, personally, think I'm the perfect person for you."

"I'm not disputing that." Roxas frowned, propped himself up on an elbow, and fixed Axel with a serious stare. "But let's face it, love. I mean, you've beaten me, raped me, made me feel like _shit_…"

"Thanks, Roxy."

"There's no way we can ever have a healthy relationship." The blonde stated plainly.

"We can if you get some therapy!" Axel said, crossing his arms dejectedly. "I can't believe you're doing this to me, Rox. I confess my utter love and adoration for you, give you _exactly_ what you asked for, and you turn around and treat me like this? I'm hurt."

"God you're such a baby." Roxas breathed, sighed, and gently kissed Axel's forehead. "You know I love you, regardless of how messed up we are."

"Well, God, Roxas." Axel groaned. "If I'm so terrible, what made your ex so great?"

Roxas opened his mouth to reply before he stopped short, blinking, his brain short-circuiting. "What?"

"You're ex-boyfriend." Axel said. "Tell me about him."

Roxas blinked a few more times, trying to make the connection. He hadn't thought of Sora in forever; he had lived, breathed, been dedicated to Axel for so long, he could barely even remember what it was like to be at home. "Um…well…"

"Okay, let's start with something easy." Axel reached up and gently tousled Roxas's hair (apparently he wasn't as upset as he had let on), smiling. "What's his name?"

"It's um…it's Sora." Roxas answered. "He's a brunette…he has blue eyes…"

"Like yours, except less beautiful?" Axel offered up, smiling. He let his hand fall down and he cupped Roxas's cheek, the blonde leaning into his touch.

"Like mine, except far more beautiful."

Axel snorted, shaking his head. "Kid, look in the mirror, okay? You're like…" He furrowed his brow, thinking. "Okay, I know this is cheesy, but you're kind of like the Archangel Michael, but way less scary."

Roxas smiled softly, closed his eyes. "Why thank-you."

"But moving on…"

"Yes, moving on. He um…he was pretty much a huge dork." Roxas chuckled and shrugged. "He's not really my kind of guy, but you should've seen the way my step-dad freaked out when I came out to my parents."

"Did they react violently?"

"Oh yeah." Roxas nodded, pursing his lips. "At first, my mom was cool. But then she saw how pissed off my step-dad was, and they both attacked me. Make a long story short, Sora was pretty much the only boy I could get away with being with, regardless of the fact that he was totally not my type."

"That's kind of sad." Axel muttered, slipping his hand down and letting it come to a rest on Roxas's bony hip. He still hadn't gained back all of the weight he had lost, but at least he was back up to something a little healthy.

"Eh, I'm over it." Roxas opened his eyes and smiled. "You're much more my type that Sora is. And I don't have to worry about my parents finding out, considering the fact that I might not have to see them again. Ever. Thank God."

"I'm your type?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow. "Despite how messed up we apparently are and how we're never ever going to be able to have a healthy relationship because of all of the stuff I did to you?"

"What can I say?" Roxas's smile broke into a grin as he laid down across Axel's chest. "I'm attracted to guys who treat me like shit only to tell me I'm an angel afterwards."

"And you think our relationship is the only thing that's unhealthy?" Axel asked. "Yeah, okay."

"Shut up." Roxas giggled, placing a delicate kiss on Axel's shoulder. "Its not my fault you're loveable."

--

The blonde tilted his head to the side, giving Axel more access to his lips, moaning softly as the redhead nipped at his lower lip. They had discovered about ten minutes ago that Axel could never lay vertically on the couch again, because about six inches of his feet and/or shins dangled off of the end. Roxas, of course, and more than enough wiggle room.

Axel brought a hand up to cup Roxas's cheek, the other arm firmly wrapped around the boy's waist. Roxas was so deliciously comfortable; he wouldn't have moved if he was offered a million dollars.

Just as the hand around his waist began wandering curiously under Roxas's shirt and across his chest, the door flew open. Axel choked on Roxas's tongue, which had dived inside of mouth, and Roxas choked on Axel's choke.

"Axel!" Ah, Demyx. Of course. Roxas had completely forgotten about him; sixteen hours of Axel's undivided attention really did a lot to change his attitude.

Axel cleared his throat, glanced down at Roxas, and blinked. "Demyx, now isn't really a good time."

"Where are you? Axel?"

"I have an idea." Roxas whispered, grinning deviously. "Mind if I act on it?"

"What is it?" Axel whispered back, glancing up. There was still one room between them and Demyx, and it was empty but for a closet (for some reason the tall blonde thought to look in that without even glancing at the couch, which was visible from the doorway) but Axel figured they had a few moments more.

"Just payback for Demyx being all snotty when you two were "together." Roxas answered. "Please?"

Axel nodded. "Okay."

Quickly, Roxas unbuttoned Axel's shirt, slipped out of his own, and ditched his cargo shorts. "Grind." He commanded, pointing at Axel's hips. The redhead gave him a confused look, eyebrow raised.

"I'm sorry?"

"Axel, come on! We don't have a lot of time here. Now grind." Axel started, not having to be told again, grinding his hips roughly against Roxas's. The blonde let out a soft moan, and immediately he could feel Demyx's eyes on them.

"Axel…?"

--

"What are we going to do with him?"

"I don't know. I've never had to deal with this kind of thing before."

Axel sighed. "I think he's had a nervous breakdown."

Roxas was clinging to Axel's arm, Axel standing protectively in front of his lover. Demyx was curled into a little ball in the corner of the living room, paying them no mind if he even knew he was there, muttering something to himself that was undecipherable to both captor and captive.

"Should we take him to the hospital?"

"We can't. We've been on America's Most Wanted, remember? If we took him to the hospital, someone would recognize us."

"What should we do with him, then?"

--

"What the…?" Marluxia stood up, glanced out the window. "Um…Vexen?"

"What do you want now, Marly?"

"There's a cute boy sitting outside in the hallway, and he looks like he just shot up."

"Jesus Christ, what are you smoking now?" Vexen came storming out of the bathroom, his hair pulled up in a cheap hotel shower cap, and he glanced out the window. "Oh…my."

"See? I wasn't making it up!"

"Shut up and call an ambulance."

--

"Do you think he's going to be okay?" Roxas whispered. He and Axel were moving again for fear that someone from the ambulance service that had been called would feel it necessary to talk to them.

"I don't know. No one in my life has ever had a nervous breakdown before." Axel blinked, shook his head. "I'm sorry we have to move again, though. I know we haven't really been able to stay in one place."

"Comes with the territory I suppose." Roxas muttered. "I just hope Demyx is okay. I mean, I wanted to piss him off. Not like…put him in a coma."

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine." Axel said. "Come here."

Roxas scooted over the bench seat and cuddled up against Axel's side, his head falling in the redhead's lap. "Mm…I'm sleepy."

"Are you, now? You didn't get enough sleep earlier?"

Roxas closed his eyes, but his brow furrowed all the same. "Are you on crack? You wouldn't let me fall asleep until two in the morning and woke me up again at eight so we could make out on the couch. Weirdo."

"Oh, you're fine." Axel replied, stroking Roxas's hair.

"So where are we going now?" Roxas asked, changing the subject.

"I don't know. I was thinking maybe Florida or Georgia. Southeast somewhere. What do you think?"

Roxas smiled and shook his head. "I don't care where I am so long as I'm with you."

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was short. D8 But oh well. I like it...kinda. There wasn't as much lemon as I was hoping for, but I promise I'll make up for that in the next two chapters AAAAANNNNNDDDD the EPIC EPILOGUE! D It's going to be so awesome, guise. I can't wait until I write it. ;D

But, aside from the awesomeness and what not, I've been getting a few flames, and its like. D8 Dudes. I get if you don't like something that I write, but you don't have to tell me. xD I mean, that's your own thing. It doesn't really help me as a writer if you review saying you can't possibly continue reading this story because you don't like where I've taken it. xDDD

For those of you who review nice things (that's the majority of you, naturally 8D) I LOVE YOU! Don't be discouraged; your reviews are muy importante. Les amo!!!

~Sara


	18. Chapter 17

"Axel, you really should slow down." Roxas muttered. He was clutching onto the redhead's arm for dear life (quite literally) watching as the speedometer neared 95 in the 75 zone of the highway. They had stolen a green Ferrari somewhere along the line, and Axel was having fun testing how fast they could go.

"Relax, kiddo! You're going to be fine. I'm a really good driver." Axel chuckled and leaned down, kissing Roxas on top of his mop of blonde hair.

"Will you _please_ keep your eyes on the road?" Axel hissed, hugging Axel's arm a little tighter. "Plus, I'm not worried about us flipping out. I'm worried about you getting pulled over or something."

"Oh. Well, in that case…" Axel let his foot up off the gas pedal a little, but they were still going well above the speed limit. "Good thinking, kid."

"God, will you stop calling me that?" Roxas groaned and buried his face in Axel's shoulder. They had been driving for the last six hours, and somehow Axel was just as super-charged as he always was. Roxas, on the other had, was exhausted. He had hardly gotten any sleep the previous night (thanks to Axel) and was, for obvious reasons, very tired.

"Why? It fits you so well."

"Because after spending all of this time together, I should think that you'd have learned my name by now." He gave Axel a flat look, which was returned with that goofy, radiant smile that couldn't be denied.

"Roxy, I have learned your name. But calling you 'kid' just makes you seem that much more…" He paused for a moment, thinking, and Roxas recoiled with a look of horror on his face.

"Young? Oh my God Axel, not you too! I've been surrounded by pedophiles!" He groaned and buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. "This is terrible. Here I am, starting to think that you're a good guy, and all the while--"

"Roxas, will you relax?" Axel sighed and took Roxas by the shoulder, pushing his head forcefully down into his lap and stroking his hair gently afterwards. "I'm not a pedophile. What I was going to say was, it makes you seem so much more adorable."

The blonde stopped his struggling and blinked, relaxing again. "Oh. Okay."

At this Axel couldn't help but laugh. "You're such a weirdo."

Roxas sighed and nuzzled in against his lover's comfortable lap, only to be greeted by something rather…hard. "What's this?" He asked, mischief glinting in his eyes as he grinned up at Axel. "Good Lord, Axel. How excited do I make you?"

Axel snorted and glanced down, shaking his head. "Don't give yourself too much credit, _kid_. I think that might be residual from when you took a shower this morning."

"Oh. My. God." Roxas said, eyes wide. "You've had an erection since eight this morning?" He furtively glanced at the clock, noticing that it was just past noon.

"I guess so."

"My poor baby!" Roxas honestly looked like he was about to cry. His lower lip was trembling in that adorable way it did when he was upset, and he immediately took Axel's face between his hands, expression serious. "Do you want me to fix it for you? I promise, Roxy'll make it all better."

Axel blinked once, glanced at the rode, turned back to Roxas, blinked again. "Roxas, are you sure you want to do that now? I mean, we're driving and everything…"

"Shh." Roxas put a finger against Axel's lips like they did in movies, shaking his head. "Do you want me to take care of it or not?"

Mentally, Axel weighed his options. He could either have to deal with this painful problem in his pants, or let Roxas suck him off. The kid probably wasn't that experienced, but it was better than nothing…

"Go for it, babe."

Roxas smiled at that and laid down across the bench seat, daintily unbuttoning and unzipping Axel's jeans, using his tongue in ways that Axel never thought possible.

--

Zack saw the green Ferrari go zipping by at speeds that were in no way legal, immediately flashed his lights and turned on his siren, grabbing his walkie-talkie. "Central, I got a 22350 here on I-80. I have activated lights and sirens, suspect is not pulling over."

The walkie-talkie fuzzed for a moment before a woman's voice came over, scratchy but audible. "Requesting back-up?"

"Not quite yet, I don't think." He replied. "However, I'll let you know if I need anything. Over and out."

He pulled around a few more cars, riding the Ferrari's bumper as close as he could without putting both him and his suspect in danger. It took a few moments, but slowly the car began to pull to the side of the road, coming to a complete stop about two and a half miles from where the officer had originally noticed them.

He sighed and grabbed his little clip-board of procedural questions he should ask, not that he even needed it anymore. Ah, insurance companies. Gotta love 'em. "Sir," he asked. "Do you know why I pulled you over?"

_Driver is tall, redheaded male. Green eyes. I'd say roughly 6'4", on the thinner side._ "Um…I'd say…speeding?"

He laughed nervously, and when Zack looked into the full compartment of the car, he noticed a young blonde boy clearing his throat. "You've got that right. Do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

"I…can honestly say I have no clue."

"105 in a 70." Zack said, his expression deadpanning. "Could I see your license and registration, please?"

The redhead fished around in the glove compartment for a moment, the blonde reaching down to help him but getting his hand slapped away. "Its…right…here."

Said driver procured both his license and registration, both reading _Steve Taylor_. "Mr. Taylor, is that boy with you?"

The blonde glanced up and smiled, glancing at Axel before glancing back at Zack. "Yeah. Yeah, he's with me."

"Son," Zack bent down and looked in the car, bypassing the driver. "Are you with this man because you want to be?"

The blonde blinked a few times, confused, shook his head. "Lo siento. No hablo ingles."

Zack sighed and stood up, nodding. "Sir, can you tell me _why_ you were driving at such an outrageous speed?"

The redhead chuckled nervously and cleared his throat, glanced at the blonde, and leaned out the window. "To tell you the truth…" He whispered. "I was um…on the receiving end of um…of something very, very nice."

He glanced over at the blonde then down at his pants, then back at Zack. "Officer…Fair?"

"Yeah, yeah. Um…" Zack cleared his throat. "Is he like…is he over 18?"

"Of course!" The redhead said. "I wouldn't dream of doing this with someone under the legal age to consent!"

Zack nodded. "Oh…that's um…that's good. Well…have a good day, I suppose."

The redhead smiled politely and nodded, rolled up his window, drove away. Slowly, Zack walked back to his patrol car, opened the door, climbed in numbly. "What happened to you?" His blonde partner barked.

Zack just shook his head, sighing. "Mexican immigrant."

"Ah."

--

"Good Lord, Roxas." Axel said, shaking his head. "Do you now see what happens when I give you what you want?"

"What _I _want?" Roxas asked, incredulous. "I was giving you what you wanted! I mean, I tried to do you a favor…" The blonde sighed, finding it impossible to get angry that he was being blamed for their almost getting caught. "Poor baby…"

Axel sighed, trying to keep a straight face, but found that it was impossible with Roxas being the way he was. "You're so adorable."

Roxas smiled and shifted slightly, nodding. "Well. Would you like me to finish, or do you want to play it safe and wait until we get to wherever you're taking us?"

"I want you to finish." Axel answered immediately. "If it was uncomfortable before, it's unbearable now. But first," He sighed, shook his head, glanced at Roxas. "'No hablo ingles'?"

The blonde snorted, shrugging. "I don't know. It was the first thing that popped into my head. You're much better at making excuses than I am."

Roxas leaned down to begin, but Axel stopped him once more with a hand on the shoulder. "Well, just so you know, I think it's sexy when you speak Spanish."

Roxas laughed. "Do you want me to speak Spanish while I'm sucking on you?"

"Oh, please do."

Roxas laughed again and leaned down, unbuttoned Axel's pants again, this time much less gracefully than he had before. The erection popped up immediately, and Axel groaned softly. "Can we get this over with like…quickly?"

"Of course, love." Roxas breathed. Seconds later, he was deep-throating Axel's cock, bobbing his head and humming softly. Axel let out a soft moan, trying his best to keep his gaze on the road as his eyelids threatened to flutter shut from pleasure.

"Good boy, Roxas." He breathed, smiling. "Very good."

"Muchas gracias, mi amor." The vibrations that Roxas's voice sent up Axel's manhood was delicious. If the little blonde kept on like that much longer, the redhead was afraid that his resolve would falter completely and he would end up making a complete fool of himself in front of someone he was supposed to be more experience than. Then again…Roxas was doing an _incredible_ job, regardless of his age.

"Mm…Axel…" Roxas purred. "You like that, don't you?"

"Hn…Roxas…" Was all he was able to reply before a choked moan escaped his throat.

"Mm…I think you do." He chuckled and flicked his tongue across the very tip of Axel's dick, eliciting another gentle moan. He was hardly ever in control, but this one time, it was _really _nice.

They carried on like this for a few more moments until Roxas decided he was tired of sucking and decided to, less than gently, bite down on Axel's cock. The redhead let out a loud moan, thankful for the red light they had to stop at as he arched off of the seat and spilled his seed in Roxas's mouth.

The blonde sat up, chuckling as Axel panted, trying to catch his breath. "Axel, you taste like cinnamon candy."

Axel snorted and tucked himself lazily back into his pants, pressing the gas pedal gently and steering with is knees. "I hope you don't get too used to this. Exigent circumstances prevented me from dealing with this in a…_different_ manner."

Roxas laughed again. "Don't worry, love. I quite enjoy each our established positions. Now stop complaining and take us to Florida."

"Someone's got a bit of an attitude." Axel said, grinning, finally regaining himself.

"Oh, shut up." Roxas stuck his tongue out and smiled before cuddling up against Axel's side, the redhead's arm sliding slowly around his shoulders to bring him into a very protective position. "You know you love me."

"Touché."

--

At a certain point, Roxas decided that it was completely useless to make a mental note of what each of their living quarters looked like. They were all generally the same, and when he asked Axel about it, the only answer he got was that it was a feng shui thing.

One thing he new was that their living space was constantly getting smaller. The living room was smaller, the bed was smaller, the kitchen or bathroom was smaller…not that the blonde cared. So long as he was with Axel, he was happy. Or at least…as happy as one in his position could be.

Florida was nice and warm, and both Roxas and his Axel (yes, _his_ Axel) were excited about swapping their winter clothes out for summer ones. They didn't go shopping (for fear that someone would recognize them) but instead ordered all of their clothes offline. All of their food was ordered over the phone.

But they stayed in Florida for…a while. Roxas had to thank God that, six months after they had moved from Chicago, he was curled up against Axel's side on the couch, gently rubbing his one shoulder, perfectly content.

"Hey Roxy," Axel muttered, gently stroking the blonde's spine. "If I hadn't taken you, where would you be right now?"

"Um…probably in college." Roxas answered, shrugged. "In a few months, actually. I would just be finishing up high school right now."

"Rox, babe, you're fifteen." Axel said, chuckling.

"Going on sixteen, thank-you very much." Roxas answered, pouting. In response, Axel pecked him on the forehead. "Plus, my school bred protégés. If you weren't a kid genius, you wouldn't make it."

Axel sighed, shook his head. "That's so messed up." They were silent for a few more moments, each contenting in the other's steady heartbeat and breathing, until Axel spoke again.

"Do you wish I hadn't taken you?"

"I have mixed feelings on the matter." Roxas replied, and could feel Axel tense. "On one hand, I would love to be looking for colleges, writing my applications right now. Its so exciting…you know. You went through it."

"On the other hand?" Axel asked, ignoring Roxas's comment.

"No need to get all snippy, Axel." Roxas muttered, grinned, nuzzled in closer to the redhead. "On the other hand, if you hadn't taken me, we would never be together. And, to tell you the truth, I think I'm the happiest now that I have been since I can remember. Since I was taking college-level classes when I was taken, I can easily slip in as a freshmen at almost any school of my choice. So, in retrospect, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Axel chuckled and kissed the top of Roxas's head, hugging him closely. "Now that's what I like to hear."

"I know you do." The blonde smiled and closed his eyes, feeling like he was about ready to fall asleep. "Oh!"

"Oh?"

"I almost forgot." Roxas said, propped himself up on an elbow, and gently began tracing Axel's lips with his free hand. "What ever happened to Xigbar?"

Axel blinked, hesitated for a moment, shrugged. "He checked out early."

* * *

**A/N:** I feel like this chapter took me forever to get done. xP Oh well. On a positive note, LEMONS! ;D Lemons are nice. They bring joy to me, and surely to you guise as well. xDD However, I am sad to report, this is the second to last fluffy chapter! D8 There will be one after this (yes, the next one, chapter 18 xD) and then they get...SAD! o: Its terrible. I don't want to do it, but I have to.

Anyway. Haha. Xigbar checked out early. xD I was all like...;D And Roxy was sucking Axel off in the car. Haha. Funny. ABOUT THAT! I have to extend my thanks to Xanjen, who shared with me that I should have a Final Fantasy character be the one who pulls Axel over. Yeah, good idea, I DON'T KNOW ANY FINAL FANTASY CHARACTERS. So...yeah. Thank-you Xanjen, if not for you the cop would've ended up being Xaldin or someone like that. xDD Now I have to make him the ADA in Roxas's case. Ha. Ha.

Enjoy!  
~Sara


	19. Chapter 18

Roxas cuddled up against Axel's side, the warmth of his lover relaxing him deeply. Axel's arm curled around him lazily, and he groaned softly as it did so. "Roxas, why are you always awake so early?"

"I guess I never really recovered from my school schedule." Roxas answered, chuckled. "Just because I wake up doesn't mean you have to. I usually fall back asleep, anyway."

"Mm…whatever. Get you cute, tight ass over here." Roxas pressed himself closer to Axel, let his eyes slip shut. The redhead was just so _warm_. It was abnormal, yes, but when the blankets had slipped down to your waist to expose your bare chest to the cold air of the room, it felt really nice to have a warm arm shielding you from it all.

"Hey Roxy?" Axel asked softly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"If…" He sighed, furrowed his brow. "If, for whatever reason, we were to be separated, would you be sad?"

Roxas smacked Axel's arm a little less than gently and scoffed. "Of course I would. Don't ask stupid questions."

Axel blinked at the defensiveness in his lover's tone, shrugged. "I was just wondering. You know…because sometimes I wonder if you actually love me." He grinned as Roxas looked up at him, practically appalled.

"Shut up, Axel. You're ruining my good mood." He sighed and snuggled himself back against his captor who, in retrospect, wasn't even really a captor anymore given the fact that Roxas wouldn't leave him…ever.

"I'm sorry, baby." He leaned down and pressed several gentle kisses on the top of Roxas's head and his forehead, the grin fading into a contented smile. "What can I do to make you feel better?"

"Mm…" Roxas thought for a second, smiling. "Tell me a story. Right after you pull the blankets up because I'm starting to get cold regardless of how warm you are."

Axel kicked the blankets up and grabbed them as they floated lazily through the air, pulled them up to Roxas's chin (which was only about halfway up his own chest) and smiled as his blonde (yes, _his_ blonde) made a satisfied sound in the back of his throat. "What kind of story?"

"Tell me about you."

"Where should I start?"

Roxas shrugged. "From the beginning."

--

"I was born in Miami in 1989. I have a twin, as you already know, a younger sister, two younger half-brothers, and another younger half-sister. And we all have red hair." Axel stopped and chuckled, shook his head.

"Anyway. My mom was kind of a slut. I mean…she was married to my dad for like, a really long time. They divorced when I was ten, my sister seven. That really tore her apart, considering my dad was the one who asked for it. I think it probably had something to do with her drug habit. She was definitely using before the divorce, but we only found out until after the divorce. It's weird, actually. It seemed like after we found out I could always smell the smoke of her crack pipe on her, but before I couldn't. Maybe it was just psychological or something.

"Due to her addiction, she couldn't hold a solid job. We ended up having to move out of our house (my dad had moved in with his mistress-gone-fiancée just after the divorce settled) and into a really nasty part of the city. That was where my mom met this guy named Jonathan…never really knew his last name.

"Out of that relationship came my first half-brother. Naturally, being a pimp or a dealer or something along those lines, Jon didn't want to have to take care of any damn kid. I guess my mom didn't tell him about us. Meaning Reno, my sister and I, of course."

"What's your sister's name?" Roxas interrupted quickly, snapping out of his focus for just a moment to ask his question.

"Katrina. Kind of ironic, when you think about it. We ended up moving to New Orleans…but I'll get to that later.

"Anyway, after Jon broke up with her, my mom started beating up on us all really bad. Even Jon Jr. when he got older, because she thought he was the reason her pimp dealer boyfriend left her. One way or the other, though, we ended up moving again.

"Now, I know you've probably never been to Miami, but just so you know, a small, dingy, three-room apartment is hardly the place to raise four kids while you're selling your body for sex trying to make money. And she wasn't even doing it for a good cause; it was just to fuel her crack habit. I honestly can't count the number of times we had to eat the left-overs from the shitty restaurants near our place.

"Relationship number three gave us Sam. Sadly for Sammy boy, my mom didn't think there was anything wrong with smoking and drinking and doing crack throughout the course of the pregnancy. You're a smart kid, so you can probably imagine--"

"Yeah, I got the picture." Roxas had squeezed his eyes shut tightly and had buried his face against Axel's shoulder. "Moving on."

"Right. Well, that really pissed my mom off. She ended up selling him to some ridiculously wealthy Catholic couple who "believed in his cause" or whatever. Naturally, she spend almost all of her money on crack and some other drugs, considering that she was broadening her horizons."

"Most of her money?"

"Yeah, Reno stole some from her so that like, God forbid, she might actually feed her kids once and a while. But moving on…" Axel sighed and took a deep breath, stroking Roxas's spine, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Relationship number four was with a Mr. Andreas Russo. He was a wealthy businessman, married, and had three kids of his own. The only reason he slept with my mom was because she was a pretty redhead (the drugs hadn't messed up her looks. Yet, anyway) and his wife was always out of town with book-signings or something like that. He paid for our rent, fed my mom's drug habit, fed the kids real food, and, surprise, managed to knock her up yet again.

"After about six months of the affair having gone on, Andreas figured out that my mom's kind of a back-stabbing con artist bitch who just uses people, and he broke it off with her. She was really pissed off because he had done such a nice job of providing her with crack, so she harassed him non-stop. She threatened to tell his wife and everything, and he didn't budge. She even took his last name and made us do the same and then camped out in their front lawn, screaming about how he belonged to her and he always would or some shit like that.

"Make a long story short, he ended up filing a restraining order against her. She violated it, naturally, and was arrested. Of course, during the arraignment process or somewhere in that general time frame, her drug habit was discovered and she was charged for that as well.

"The state wanted to throw my brothers and my sisters and me into foster care, but of course, being the oldest, I couldn't let that happen."

"I thought you have a twin." Roxas muttered, giving Axel a flat, 'you-should-know-_that_' look.

"I was born first." Axel replied. He smirked and kissed Roxas on the top of the head, continuing. "I moved us from Miami to New Orleans not very long ago…I was fifteen, so…six years ago? When we got there, just to play it safe, I faked my age, telling the people there that I lost my birth certificate in a hurricane in Florida. They let me fill out a new one and gave me an application for a driver's license and everything. It was then that I took the opportunity to change my name."

"Whoa. Slow down." Roxas held a hand up and propped himself up on an elbow, eyes wide. "You mean your name hasn't always been Axel?"

"No, but Roxy, everyone--"

"No. Don't do that." Roxas closed his eyes and sighed before opening them again. "Axel, or whoever you are, why do you do this to me? Do you realize how stressful it is?"

"Don't say whoever you are." The redhead frowned and pushed Roxas down a little roughly, trapping the blonde in the circle of his arms with a tight, backbreaking hug. "I'm Axel. I always have been, and I always will be. End of story."

"Well then what _was_ your name?" Roxas asked. "And I really hope the story isn't over just when it gets to the interesting part."

"Roxas, it's embarrassing." Axel tried smothering Roxas with another kiss, but Roxas would be having none of that.

"I don't care. I want to know."

"I don't want to tell you."

Roxas sighed, wormed his way out of the hug a little bit, and placed both of his hands on either side of Axel's face. "Love. You know that I won't care one way or the other. I mean, regardless of what your name is, you're still the person I've been sleeping with for the last two years. Don't worry."

Axel sighed and fixed Roxas with a leveling stare. "Promise you won't laugh?"

"Would I ever?"

Axel hesitated for a second, bit his lip, and sighed in defeat. "It's…Lea."

Roxas snorted, and the moment he did Axel groaned and looked away from him. The blonde immediately threw a hand up to his mouth to try to kill the giggles that were bubbling up inside of him, but it couldn't be helped. "I'm sorry!"

"I knew it! I knew you would laugh at me!" Axel feigned crying, and that must have had some sort of detrimental affect of Roxas because immediately he stopped and began kissing Axel's neck and chest relentlessly. He was still grinning, but his kisses and touches were apologetic.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault. Your mom was probably high when she named you anyway."

"Wow, Rox. That makes me feel really good about myself."

Roxas sighed and turned Axel's head to face him, and once he had the redhead's gaze locked with his own, he trapped Axel in a deep kiss. Even if Axel had wanted to escape, which he didn't, it was impossible; Roxas's tongue silenced any chance he might've had at verbal protest almost immediately.

"Tell me the rest of the story, starting from just before you decided to kidnap me." He mumbled. Of course, his tongue was still inside Axel's mouth, so it sounded like tewmevurethtufvuthtowy and so on and so forth.

Axel pouted and moved to press his lips against Roxas's again, but the teen pulled away teasingly before Axel had a chance to salvage the kiss. "Please." He added, smiling wryly.

"Roxy, you're being a tease."

"So are you. Tell me the rest of the story."

"If I do, will you sleep with me when it's over?"

"That depends on how much I like the ending."

Axel sighed and laid back down (he had propped himself up on his elbows in an attempt to keep Roxas's lips locked with his) closed his eyes. "Well, I was enrolled in college when Reno came to me."

"What college?"

"William and Mary."

"Alright. Keep going."

"Well, Reno came to me. Apparently he was in some deep shit with my mom's old dealer. Reno owed him some money, because my brother started using when my mom's stash was left neglected and, and he needed to pay this guy off.

"I told him that I wasn't going to give him any money, because I didn't have any money to give. He shared with me that it wasn't his plan to ask me for any money." Axel sighed, shook his head. "He said that he wanted to kidnap this rich kid who lived in L.A."

"That would be me."

"Correct. He already had all of the information and everything. Pictures of you, where you went to school, who your friends were, who your parents were, where you lived…" He trailed off, still shaking his head, then continued with another sigh. "He sent all of this stuff to me, and told me that all I would have to do was once my finals were over, just nab you, bring you to a motel, and he would do the rest. He promised that all of my student loans could be paid off with the ransom they were going to ask for. That he would never ask me for this kind of favor again."

"But…"

Axel smiled. "I'm pretty sure you know the 'but,' Roxy. I studied the information and the pictures and everything, figured out that you were into cars, rented that Chevy, and followed you home one day from school. The rest was the easy part…you're so goddamn gullible. It's adorable."

Roxas scoffed, but Axel paid him no mind. "When I got you to the motel that Reno had suggested, I was already in a bad mood. I had studied the stereotypes of kidnappers in school and read about them in the library, and I have to admit, I played the part perfectly."

"You did."

"Why thank-you, baby." Axel chuckled and kissed the top of Roxas's forehead, continuing. "When Reno called me and told me that he was bailing on me, though, I was really pissed off. I couldn't abandon the idea you'd already have of me in your mind, or the persona I'd developed. I didn't…"

He stopped and sighed. "Roxas, you have to understand, at first, I didn't _want_ to do those things to you, but after a while I just lost myself in the role. One thing led to another, and…well…here we are."

Roxas was leaning on his hand when Axel finished, his mouth open, completely engrossed in the story. "Wow. So I mean like…you weren't a bad person?"

"I like to think I was a good person originally, yes." Axel laughed and turned his gaze back on Roxas. "Of course, that changed."

Roxas blinked and brought his hand up, gently stroking Axel's cheek. "You poor thing. You were completely drawn into this by practically no will of your own."

"Pretty much, yeah." Axel paused, reflecting, then drew in a loud breath and clapped his hands together. "Well, it is what it is. Did you like the ending?"

The blonde blinked and grinned, nodding. "Yeah, I liked the ending, you big pervert."

"I'm ready to claim my prize!" Axel growled playfully and rolled over on top of Roxas, the blonde giggling the entire time.

--

During the entire, _amazing_ experience that Roxas provided him with, Axel vividly remembered only a few things. First of all, the blonde had wanted to top. He said that since Axel had told such an amazing story, he deserved to relax and enjoy; not work terribly hard to Roxas.

Of course, Axel was the one who penetrated. Roxas couldn't bear the thought of penetrating, so instead he just rode Axel's hips into Nirvana, taking his redhead with him for the ride (pun intended).

A few things that Axel did remember were these; at first, when Roxas began, not being able to tell whether his lover was experiencing pleasure or pain based on the sounds he was making. He remembered thinking that for such a young kid Roxas had a pretty kinky sense of pleasure.

There were, however, four things that really stuck out in his mind; two during and two after. First, he vividly remembered that the first time Roxas came (because Axel thought that he had climaxed about three times before Axel finally joined him in Heaven) he was so damn _quiet_. The kid had let out a long breath, ecstasy written all over his face, not faltering for one second in his pleasuring Axel.

The second thing was exactly when he figured out that Roxas was feeling pleasure, not pain. He had tossed his head back, his back arching into nothing, his long nails digging into the flesh at Axel's hips. And it had felt very, very good in so many ways.

The third, post-event was Roxas, still sitting on top of Axel, shaky fingers fumbling with the buckles on the collar that was attacked to the leash Demyx had left behind. Axel had reached up to help Roxas with it, not even remembering the blonde putting it on, and noticed the red ring around his hand where the leather had been wrapped so tightly it left a mark.

The last thing he remembered, post-lovemaking, was Roxas crawling slowly up the length of Axel's body, his soft lips placing gentle kisses along nearly every inch of exposed skin, finally ending at the nape of his neck. He remembered Roxas hugging himself against the redhead's body, lips at the shell of his ear. Roxas whispering, 'I love you, Axel. I love you more than anything else in the world.' He remembered wrapping his arms around Roxas, holding him closer that he'd ever held him before, whispering 'I love you too.' just before he fell asleep.

* * *

**A/N: **I have no idea how this chapter is so long. xDDD It's so weird. I mean, I started writing it, and I was just like...'Pfft. Short.' and...yeah. xP Sorry I made you guise wait for this, though. I mean, I think this is the longest it's taken me to update this story in the history of ever. O.O I was like. Damn. AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY IN A--NOW.  
This is. The LAST fluffy chapter! D8 There are going to be three more, and they're going to be really really sad. :( But then the epilogue will happen and it'll be okay. ^-^ The epilogue is going to be so damn cute. But but but but but I really don't want to have sad chapters to get there but they just HAVE to be there.  
Now, guise, I just have to say this; this story has made it really far, and for those of you who're still with me, you've had to endure poor Roxy's sadness and pain and violation and beatings and it was just terrible for the longest time. Officially, there are only three chapters left. Please don't bail on me now. D; That would make me so sad. I mean, I know the chapters coming up aren't going to be terribly enjoyable, but once we reach the very, very end you'll be glad that you kept reading. I promise.

~Sara


	20. Chapter 19

Axel liked Florida. It reminded him of his childhood, and however messed up it was, there were a _few_ good memories tossed in there. They weren't in Miami but in Venice, but it didn't matter. He was having a good time. The weather was always warm, even with all of that global warming shit going on. The lowest the temperature got while they were there was like, 50 degrees Fahrenheit. They couldn't go outside to enjoy the weather because of how notorious they were, but Roxas contented himself in sitting the window and telling himself that he was tanning.

The blonde's sixteenth birthday came and went like crazy. Axel, having to order all of his gifts offline and on a very tight budget, couldn't bear the thought that his adorable little Roxas was missing out, so it wasn't too outrageous when he suggested a little birthday sex. Or that he suggested Roxas's birthday last the entire month instead of just one, short day.

One thing that Axel did in fact notice, after a while that is, is that Roxas started asking a ton of questions. 'What did you want to be when you graduated?' 'A pediatric oncologist.' 'Why did you do what Reno asked you?' 'He's my brother. Duh.' 'What would you do if he rolls over on you?'

The questions were never-ending, and Axel found that for a lot of them he didn't have answers. Roxas's most favorite topic seemed to be what would happen if they were ever torn apart by the vengeful claw of the law, and just thinking about it made Axel want to ravish the kid on the spot. When he shared this with Roxas, of course, Roxas's eyes grew wide and he began apologizing profusely for upsetting the redhead.

"Why are you so fascinated with that?" Axel asked him that again and again, and Roxas always gave him the same answer. No matter how angry or sad or just plain monotone Axel tried to make his voice, Roxas never wavered.

"I want to be prepared. Just in case."

--

Roxas was probably imagining things when he told himself that Axel would either grow so withdrawn that he wouldn't talk for Roxas on hours on end; just hold him so tightly it was almost uncomfortable, or be so enraptured with Roxas that the kid didn't have any breathing room. Not that he minded, of course. Axel was the most addictive drug Roxas couldn't found, and he was free and constantly available. His attention was like a high that never ended.

It was terribly confusing at times, though. Roxas could be laying in Axel's arms after loving him for such a long period of time that it was a miracle he was still awake, ask Axel if he really, truly loved him, and Axel would explode almost in anger. He hated it when Roxas asked those questions, said they were ridiculous. Of course, it was more of a confidence builder for Roxas than anything, but it troubled him that it troubled Axel so deeply.

His seventeenth birthday came up on them all too quickly. For the both of them, it seemed like an eternity had passed since Axel had pulled up to a fourteen-year-old Roxas on the side of the road, asking if he needed a ride. Their relationship had taken so many twists and turns and dives and climbs that it had the illusion of being decades old.

Mere days after his birthday, Roxas was curled up against Axel's side on the couch in a position that he had grown so accustomed to, his head resting on Axel's shoulder, breathing lightly. "Axel."

"Yeah?"

"Don't get mad, okay?"

That hit Axel at home, but he just swallowed loudly and nodded. "Okay."

"Do you think…" Roxas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had finally grown and filled out, tight abs and muscles forming to compliment his taller stature. "Do you think that if we got separated, I would be able to find you again? Or you would be able to find me?"

"Of course." Axel answered immediately. He hugged Roxas close against him, breathed in the ever-so-familiar scent of his hair. "We belong together. Even if I couldn't find you, I would never stop looking."

Roxas smiled against Axel's neck, kissed him softly. "Yeah. Same here."

"You've been rather morbid of late, love." Axel commented offhandedly some minutes later, arching an eyebrow. "Any reason, or are you just curious as to whether or not I was telling you the truth, all those times I said I loved you?"

Roxas scoffed. "You know that's not it. It's just…" He shrugged, trying to let himself slip into the oblivion of Axel's arms. "I'm getting older, and the fairy tale is starting to end."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means…" Roxas shrugged again, and he could feel tears threatening to spill from his eyes and on Axel's shirt. He had hardly ever cried since Xigbar…_left_, and he only did when he was afraid for he and Axel, not out of pure fear itself. "It means that the fact that you're wanted by two government agencies is becoming more and more real. I'm just…"

"You're just what?" Axel's words came out sounding far more harsh than he hand intended them, and he noticed far too late exactly how fragile Roxas was when it came to the subject.

Immediately Roxas was pressed against Axel's chest, crying against his neck, Axel trying to get some serious damage control working. "I'm so scared, Axel." He sobbed. "I'm s-so scared."

It seemed to Axel that more and more of their conversations had ended up like this; Roxas crying and crying and crying, and Axel trying to do something about it. He hated it when Roxas cried. It was like watching a puppy whimper in agony. It was the kind of thing that you couldn't bear to witness because it tugged at your heartstrings far too much.

Axel did his best to make Roxas happy. He did his best six months after the blonde's birthday, eight months after…yet he could see that age was beginning to take a toll on his seemingly immortal angel. The very realities that Axel had tried to shield him from were making themselves known, and they were dimming the sparkle that had for so long adorned Roxas's eye.

When they were together, they _made love_. Roxas, of course, pointed this out to Axel one night. He laid against the redhead, tracing invisible patterns in his chest, idly murmured, "How long ago was it that we stopped fucking?"

"Um…Roxy, love." Axel said, rather unsure of how to respond. "I hate to break it to you kiddo, but we were fucking just now. In case you didn't get the memo."

"No, we were making love. There's a difference." That stubborn pout found its way onto Roxas's face, and Axel knew that there would be no changing his mind at this point. The only reason to press that matter would be to discover the other's logic.

"And what would that be?"

"Well, for example," Roxas propped himself up on his elbow and let his hand trail down to Axel's hips, teasing. "When I do this, it's sensual. Love making his sensual. Fucking is not. It's rough and harsh and brief."

"As opposed to…?"

"As opposed to gentle and soft and sensual and perfectly enjoyable." Roxas smiled softly. "And in your case, desperate."

Axel frowned. "I don't think I'm being desperate."

"You don't think you are, but you are." Roxas laid back down and settled against Axel's shoulder once more. "When you touch me it's like…" He shrugged. "You take your time. Like you have to commit every moment to memory. You're savoring too much."

"Well excuse me for being in love with you."

"That's not my point, Axel. It's just…you wouldn't have to commit every single detail to memory if you didn't think we're in trouble. But you're feeling the same fear that I am, aren't you?" Roxas's voice was deceptively calm. They hadn't been together long, but they had been together long enough for Axel to be able to detect the strain on the blonde's voice.

"Damn it, Roxas!" He didn't mean to yell, and a little part of him died inside when Roxas recoiled slightly. Axel could only imagine the memories that flew through his mind every time he yelled; the feelings of hurt that were conjured up from their early days together. Wounds that could never heal.

"I'm sorry." He whispered immediately.

Axel sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head, curling an arm around Roxas's waist. "Don't be. Just…why do you have to do that?"

Roxas swallowed almost nervously and blinked. "Do what?"

"Why do you have to dissect everything like that? How do you know that I'm not…" Axel hated lying to Roxas. But what he hated even more was scaring Roxas. And he knew that the moment that he admitted his fear, it would only heighten the blonde's. "How do you know I don't drink you in because I love you? I…I love you." _I love you. I love you_. He said it over and over again in his mind, feeling the truth in his words.

"I know you do, Axel." Roxas whispered. "I'm sorry. I love you, too."

--

_You're not doing him any favors._ When it was late and Roxas was asleep in Axel's arms, the redhead was left alone with his thoughts. It seemed, however, that his mind was constantly plotting against him. His mind didn't want him to be with Roxas, yet his heart ached for the blonde every second of every day.

_You ruined his life. You know that, don't you? If you had never come along, he would be so successful right now. He would be so far. He can still go so far. He can go back to a family that, maybe, will love him one day. He can go back to a boyfriend that loves him and that his parents love. He can go back to a normal life. You know that…right?_

--

Roxas blinked his eyes open to sunlight streaming through the open window shades and groped the other side of the bed, only to find the sheets cool and unoccupied. He frowned in confusion and blinked a few more times, saw the indent where Axel's body had lain, and sat up.

"Axel?" He called out, but received no response. The redhead wasn't in the bathroom because Roxas couldn't hear any movement, and he wasn't in the kitchen because there wasn't any movement, and he wasn't in the living room because the TV wasn't making any noise.

"Axel?" His voice was a little more desperate this time as he looked around the room, finally spotting the note that rested on the pillow to his left with _Roxas_ written on the front in beautiful, wavy handwriting.

A pang of fear was struck in Roxas's heart and a nervous knot formed in his stomach before he forced himself to dismiss them. Axel had probably gone to the store to pick something up. He always like to wait last minute to order their stuff online, and he had probably run out of something and absolutely _needed_ it.

However, his hands still shook as he picked up the rather large note that was more like a letter, and he sucked in a sharp breath when he saw how long it was. He forced himself to hold tears back until he had finished it, promising himself that it was nothing. The same florid handwriting met his gaze then, and he began reading it.

_Roxas, _

_First of all, you need to know that I love you. And because I love you, I had to do this. I couldn't possibly let myself keep going on the way we were. Or rather, the way I was. I…what I did was wrong. And I guess this is me trying to fix it. _

_It's no secret that you're a brilliant kid. I mean, you're smarter than I am, and I made it halfway through college before I got myself involved in this mess. Not that I'm regretting it or anything. The only thing I regret is that I didn't realize how much I loved you sooner. Who knows? We might've been able to catch a flight to Venezuela and could be speaking Spanish in some family-owned market right now. Safe. _

_I want to make this brief, and have to let you know a few things. First of all, don't try to go outside and find me. I don't know what time it is now, as your read this, but I left at eight. You were sleeping so peacefully…you'll never be able to catch up to me. Even if you knew where I'm going. _

Roxas sucked in a harsh breath, and tears started to pool in the corners of his eyes. He glanced over the paper quickly and could see the places where Axel's own tears had smeared the ink, stained the pretty paper. That would've been comforting if Roxas wasn't as upset as he was; knowing that Axel had been sad. Had been crying as he wrote this.

_Second, I'm going to call the police and tell them where you are at 11:30 EST, in the morning of course. I suggest you look at the clock_. Roxas glanced at the bedside table, and the little green numbers told him that it was 11:45.

_If it's not too late after, you're going to have some time to salvage all of the memories that we made together. The memories…the memories that I worked so hard to preserve. That I will work hard to preserve. I left a ton of my clothes in the closet for you…did you know that scent is the most memory-triggering of all of our five senses? _

_I doubt they'll let you take stuff like the x-box and you're iPod immediately and stuff…they'll want them for evidence. But you're a big boy now, so you can hide my clothes under your shirt or in your duffle bag. Just don't let them search it. They'll respect you, because by the time they get there you'll be traumatized. Just for a different reason than they think. _

_Rox…you need to know…I love you so much. I love you more than anything on this Earth. Even now, as I'm writing this, I have doubts. I want to crawl back in bed and take you up in my arms and tell you that everything's going to be okay. But I can't…I can't do that…_

At that point in the letter, Axel's handwriting had grown messy. Roxas imagined him writing, imagined the tears that spilled down his cheeks, imagined his hand shaking with the sadness that he would refuse to show, even though there was no one there to see.

_I want you to live. I don't want you to be miserable thinking about what was or what could've been. Because you know what? I'm going to find you. I promise that you will see me again. I don't know how long it's going to be, but if you can wait…I will come to you. _

_If you tell the police everything, I'll understand. I'd understand if you took them to all of the places I took you, if you don't want to keep any of my things…if you curse my name. If you never want to see me again. That would make sense, and I would respect any decision that you might make in the future. But you need to know that I'm doing this because it's what I think is right. Maybe not now, maybe not in a year…but I'm sure that this is what's right. It hurts so much…so it has to be right. _

_I love you, Roxas. I love you so, so much. I can't say that enough. You probably don't remember…it was too early this morning, but the last think you said to me before I left is, 'I love you too, Axel.' And I can't tell you how much that means to me. I love you. _

_I WILL see you again, my love. _

_Axel_

--

After he recovered himself, Roxas stumbled over to the closet and began stuffing Axel's shirts into his duffle bag. He grabbed one off of the hanger and looked at it for a moment, remembered Axel wearing it, remembered the way that it deliciously hugged his muscular chest. It was the shirt the redhead wore when he was trying to be sexy, trying to seduce Roxas into doing something that the blonde otherwise wouldn't go for.

He brought it up to his nose and could smell his lover's familiar scent on it, could smell all of the days that Axel used this shirt to persuade him to do something which usually involved some sort of really embarrassing sex game. He breathed it in deep and treasured the precious memories before stuffing it in his bag.

Other items that belonged to Axel were thrown in there as well; his favorite coffee mug, his favorite DVD to watch, the leash that Demyx had left behind (Roxas hesitated on this one, but that was memory of Axel he would _not_ forget), Axel's favorite this and favorite that…and, lastly, the one picture that Roxas had of his lover. His love.

He had snapped it with the iPod that Axel got him for his sixteenth birthday. The redhead didn't realize that the new Nano had a camera, and Roxas was sure that he never would've gotten it had Axel known. But one night while he was sleeping, Roxas reached over and buried his face in Axel's hair and snapped the picture. It was the perfect scrapbook picture; Axel's resting serenely against Roxas's shoulder, Roxas's affectionate smile just barely showing as he breathed Axel in.

After he had gathered everything that would fit in his bag he climbed back on the bed, buried his face in Axel's pillow. It smelled of the deliciously familiar cinnamon shampoo, along with Axel's unique scent that was a mixture of both him and Roxas.

He could've laid for minutes, it could've been hours. However long it was, it wasn't long enough. Because too soon there were FBI agents bursting in through the door, searching each room, several of them invading the space where Roxas was remembering. Just…remembering. Wishing. Missing. _Craving_.

Some woman walked up to him and touched his shoulder gently, and Roxas raised his head and directed his red-rimmed gaze toward her. She smiled gently, and the blonde felt like hitting her in the face. How on Earth could she smile? Didn't she have any idea how hurt he was?

"Roxas? Roxas DuPont?"

Roxas blinked and half considered telling her No, my name is Roxas. Roxas Russo. I belong to Axel. But after a moment he just nodded numbly, blinked a few times. "Yeah."

"My name is Claudia." She said sweetly. "You're safe now. Everything's going to be okay."

He watched her for a few moments before he smiled but without a trace of happiness or politeness in his expression. "No. It's not."

* * *

**A/N: **This? Yeah, this is me CRYING! No joke, people. I had to be in a room. Alone. It was so terrible! I was all like...D'8 I'm so sad! I'm all like, 'I dun wanna write this sad shit!' And everyone else was all like, 'Then don't!' but I have to! It has to happen this way so that the epiclogue can be epic! D8 I hate this stupid plot! I wish I had changed it when I had the chance. DX  
On a happier note...  
We are ONE chapter close to the epiclogue! 8D Unfortunately for you guise, I have midterms coming up this week and next week. So you might have to wait a few days for chapters. ^^; Sorries. HOWEVER! From this point on, it's only going to get better! Kinda! ;D

DON'T STOP READING NOW!

~Sara


	21. Chapter 20

"Victim interrogation: Roxas DuPont. Age: 17. Height: 5'4". Weight: 115 lbs. Kidnap victim. Open for alteration." The mean-looking FBI agent turned the tape recorder off and looked up at Roxas, who was staring numbly at the table. He had his knees drawn up to his chest, his deep blue eyes having a cold, shallow look to them.

"Are you ready to begin?" He asked. Despite his rough appearance, his voice was soft. His dark brown dreadlocks hung neatly down to his mid-back, pulled up in a tight ponytail, dark skin nicely contrasted by his light clothes.

Roxas glanced up slowly and blinked a few times, clearing his throat. "I'm sorry. It seems I've forgotten your name. Could you tell me again?" His voice was soft, void of emotion. Too quiet.

"You can call me Detective--"

"No, I would like your first name too, please." Roxas interrupted him, but the manner with which he did it was so politely detached the law officer had no choice but to answer him.

"Xaldin." He said.

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "No last name?"

"I feel like you're trying to distract me." Xaldin muttered. "Would you like to do this another time, or are you sure you're ready to do it now?"

Roxas stared at him blankly for a moment, and Xaldin had to repress a chill. He had been told that there was something not quite right about this kid before the interrogation had begun; that he had been through something extremely traumatic, and would probably be a little off. But this wasn't what he had been preparing for. The emptiness that he saw in Roxas's eyes wasn't fragility, it was calculating. Almost like the kid was staring into your soul.

"I suppose so." He answered after a moment, shifting in his chair and leaning forward on the table on his elbows and supporting his head with his hands. "But first, may I ask you something?"

Xaldin sighed and sat back, and a sly smile worked its way onto Roxas's face. "Sure. What is it now?"

"Have you ever been in love?" The smile disappeared as soon as the words were out of the blonde's mouth, and Xaldin blinked for a moment before he chuckled. The kid couldn't be serious, could he?

"I um…I don't know. I assume it's the kind of thing that'll make itself known once it happens. Why, have you?" _Of course he hasn't. He's only a kid_. Even as the words echoed through Xaldin's train of thought, he felt an uneasiness about him. The way that kid _looked_ at him. It was eerie.

"I have, actually." Roxas's tone was flat, matter-of-fact. "And it didn't make itself known at first. It took me a while to realize what was going on. So if I were you, I'd stay on the look out in case you're actually interested in finding someone."

"Alrighty…" Xaldin crossed his arms after tossing the file down on the table between them, but Roxas's eyes didn't deviate from the other's face once. "Are you ready to--"

"Do you have any idea how close you were to finding me?" Roxas interrupted again. His tone was curious, eyes dead. The kind of look that could send chills down anyone's spine, be it the most practiced attorney or the druggie down the street.

"I do, actually." Xaldin answered. He was starting to get irritated, and it was plain on his face. He could've sworn he saw a spark of satisfaction in Roxas's eye, but the moment it appeared it was gone. "We were so close, we actually found you."

At this, Roxas actually laughed. But it was a bitter laugh; the kind of laugh one never wanted to hear if it was directed towards them. "You didn't find me. Someone told you where I was. I mean _actually finding me_."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"One of your state troopers." Roxas answered, leaned back again and mimicked Xaldin's position. His scrawny arms, however, didn't have nearly the intimidating affect that Xaldin's muscular arms did. His pose was eerie, just like his stare. "He pulled us over. Of course, _he_ had stolen the car and they guy's license, stuck a picture of himself in there…nothing was suspicious."

"We're not in control of the State Police--"

"Oh please. It's all part of one big government conspiracy. You all play for the same team, regardless of what you call yourselves or what your shield says." Roxas sighed and closed his eyes, cracked his knuckles. Xaldin watched him for a moment, about to speak about three different times but decided the better of it.

"Do you have any idea what it's like, being kidnapped?" Roxas asked softly, and Xaldin glanced up in surprise. They had been silent for much longer than he had initially realized; about twenty minutes.

"I…well, studies say--"

"I don't give a fuck what the studies say." Roxas snapped, glaring. "If you've never been kidnapped you have no idea what it's like. So, have you ever been kidnapped?"

Xaldin's mouth worked in framing words that wouldn't translate into sounds before he finally gave up and shook his head. "No. No I haven't."

"Well it isn't fun." Roxas's tone had gone from flat to bitter, and he was now crossing his arms and staring at Xaldin intently. "Where are my parents?"

"They should be on the other side of that glass." Thankful for the change of subject, the FBI agent pointed to the two-way mirror and smiled reassuringly. "If you want, I can--"

"I want them to leave." Roxas said immediately, his expression set. "They don't need to hear what I'm about to tell you."

"Well, policy says--"

"Get me a lawyer. I don't care. Whatever you need to do to get them away from here." Roxas glanced at the mirror before turning his attention back to Xaldin. "This isn't a happy story."

Xaldin blinked. He glanced at the mirror as well, and could hear his captain tap on the glass signaling for him to come out. "Can you excuse me for a moment?"

"Do I have a choice?"

--

The tall blonde lawyer sat down next to Roxas, pulling random papers out of his briefcase and clearing his throat. "Alright mister…?

He glanced at Xaldin, awaiting a response, but all he got was a blank stare. Roxas snorted and put his feet up on the table separating them, arms crossed. The blonde attorney blinked for a moment or two before he began speaking again.

"Very well, then. My name is Luxord, and as you probably know I will be representing the young Mr. DuPont."

"Are we ready to start or not?" Xaldin barked. "This kid's been wasting my time for the last two and a half hours. I've got a life, and I'd rather enjoy living it sometime in the near future."

Luxord glanced at Roxas, who glanced back, then nodded. "I believe my client has a pretty good idea of what he's willing to tell you."

"What he's _willing_ to tell me?" Xaldin snorted. "He's a victim! What wouldn't he want to tell me."

"There are certain aspects of his captivity that he feels don't need to be shared with you." Luxord replied matter-of-factly, straightening his tie as well as his posture. "If you can come to grips with that fact, I think we might be ready to begin."

Roxas smirked and nodded approvingly at Luxord, who placed his briefcase on the floor beside his chair and waited for his client to begin speaking. The shorter of the two blondes sighed and glanced up at the ceiling, letting his gaze linger on the flickering overhead light.

"For starters," He began. "You're going to want to change that beginning statement to kidnap, rape, and domestic violence victim."

"Domestic violence?"

Roxas chuckled. "Do you find it so hard to believe that I grew comfortable around my captor, detective?"

"I do, as a matter of fact."

"I suggest you do a little reading up on Stockholm Syndrome, then."

"Well, in any event, please continue."

Roxas shrugged. "It's not a good story, but it's a short one. I was taken about two neighborhoods away from my school, about three or so blocks from my gated community. My captor offered me a car, I liked the car, he offered me a ride, so I got in. I told him where I live, even though I'm sure he already knew.

"He passed the turn for my house, and when I asked him where we were going he didn't answer me. We got a motel. He got me knew clothes, colored contacts. When he found out that his partners in crime wouldn't be joining him because they backed out, he got really pissed off and decided he wanted to rape me.

"Of course, I resisted at first, which would usually end in the occasional beating. After a while I got used to the rape, had to keep reminding myself not to fight back because it would only end in far more pain than I was already in."

Roxas stopped, took a deep breath. Naturally, Xaldin and Luxord thought, rightly so, that he was closing his eyes trying to remember. But what they didn't know what how hard Roxas had to fight to keep tears from spilling down his face. How, in recounting the story, he could see Axel doing all of those things to him. _His_ Axel had, once upon a time, hurt him.

"We moved around a lot." He continued, opening his eyes. "Petoskey, some place in Nebraska, Chicago. You found me in Florida…"

"And what kind of things happened here? Did he go to these places for any specific reason?"

Roxas shrugged. "To get away from the police, I guess. He never met up with anyone…except for this one hooker he used. He was a fag, you know, so he hired this male prostitute to come in and satisfy him when apparently raping me wasn't good enough."

Roxas was dying as he told the rest of the story, Xaldin and Luxord both watching him in horror. Naturally, however, he had to exaggerate some facts. He had to leave out all of Axel's affectionate kisses, all of Axel's loving caresses, all of Axel's tender hugs. He finished a good two hours later, the story finally ending when the FBI found him in Florida. He had conveniently forgotten how much Axel loved him, how much Axel cared, about the note, about the things that Roxas still kept a secret…

"Now Roxas," Xaldin said, blinking. "I'm going to ask you a very difficult question. If you can't answer it, that's fine. Are you ready?"

"Shoot."

"Do you know the man who did these things to you?"

Roxas almost felt like laughing. His shoulders visibly shook with his silent laughter, and he nodded. "Of course. He only reminded me about a million times."

"What's his name?"

Roxas paused for a second, lips parted, as though he was thinking very hard about something. Finally he answered, "Reno. Reno Russo."

--

"Sora, please." Roxas's mother placed her hands on the brunette's shoulders, looking at him earnestly. "He won't talk to any of us…at this point, I think you're the only one who might be able to break through to him. This could very well be a life or death situation for him."

Sora bit his lip, still hesitating, before he nodded. "Okay, Mrs. DuPont. I'll talk to him if you want me to."

She smiled and kissed Sora on the forehead as though he were her own son, nodding. "Good boy. Thank you so much, Sora."

The teen began ascending the spiral staircase after that, all the up to the loft, all the way up to Roxas's door. It was interesting how the staircase came to an end right in front of the door; there wasn't a hallway or anything. There was a very horror-movie like aspect to the set up, which didn't really surprise Sora. Roxas had always been into that kind of stuff.

He walked up to the door and smiled softly, knocking lightly. "Rox? It's me. It's Sora."

"Go away." The reply came, but it was muffled. Not muffled enough to hide how broken Roxas's voice sounded, though. Sora sighed and shook his head, blinked a few times.

"Come on, Rox." When he didn't receive any reply, he gave a resigned sigh and opened the door slowly. Roxas was kneeling down by his closet, and Sora could hear him whimpering softly, holding something black up to his face.

"How's my Roxy Snuggle Baby?" The brunette asked, a smile coming to his lips at the old pet name. However, at the sound of his nickname Roxas let out something that sounded like a hiss, and glanced at Sora out of his peripheral vision.

"Don't call me that ever again."

Sora blinked, slightly taken aback by the blonde's harsh tone, before he knelt down next to Roxas and put a hand on his shoulder. "Rox--"

"Get. Away. From. Me." Roxas continued to glare, but before the words had even taken affect Sora had caught sight of the black thing in Roxas's hands. It was a t-shirt, and it was way too big to belong to the blonde. It said, 'Fuck me, I'm Italian.' and it had a picture of a shirtless Italian leering on the front.

"Rox, who's shirt is that?"

Roxas sighed and pressed his nose in the soft, gentle fabric that welcomed him as warmly as Axel's arms once had. It still smelled strongly of the redhead, treasured memories flooding into Roxas's mind as soon as the smell registered in his mind. "Leave me alone."

"It's his, isn't it?" Sora gasped in shock. "You took that from the guy who stole you away from me!"

"Sora!" Roxas shouted at him, tore his face from one of the only relics he had that reminded him of Axel, tears pooling at the corners of his eyes. "Don't do this. Please. I…" He sighed, shook his head. "I still care about you, and if you do this you'll only be hurting yourself."

"Get rid of it." Sora hissed. He tried to grab it away from the blonde, but Roxas shielded the t-shirt with his body, whimpering softly as it was torn at.

"Don't touch it."

Sora laughed disbelievingly and stood up, marching over to the door. "If you don't get rid of that thing, I'm going to tell you parents that you have it."

"Go ahead. See if I care." Roxas's face was buried in the fabric once more, and his eyes were closed, a perfect picture of Axel's face forming in his mind. "It's not going to change anything."

--

As Sora was halfway out the front door, well on his way to his car, Roxas's mother stopped him. "Sora? How did it go? What's wrong?"

The brunette turned and glared at her, tears streaming down his face. "He's _your _son. Why don't you ask _him_?"

* * *

**A/N: **Mkay. So...I don't really like this chapter. It's too short in comparison to the last one. But it had to happen. I mean, Roxy implicated Reno instead of Axel (sexy, hot, adorable Axel) which is important for the next chapter, and Sora caught him snarfing Axel's old t-shirt. Which is also important. 'Cuz they are NO MOAR! D

Anyway. Yes. The next chapter will be the trial, and my parents are lawyers so I'm going to be using coutroom lingo. Not that fancy, condensed version of law and order, people. It's gonna be the real shebang. So....yay? xD Then...THE EPICLOGUE! 8D I think I'm going to do it in three parts, considering that that's the only way it'll make sense to me. They're not going to be as long as chapters, but they'll be a little...you know...different. xP

Can you guise believe it's almost over? I don't want this to end! D8 I remembered getting my first reviews, and there were like...twenty of them. I was like...'Damn. This might actually be popular.' xDDD So for all of you guise who have been with me from the very beginning and will be with me until the very end, you're all amazing. I love you so much. You made Amber happen. ^^

Once it is finally over, I plan on starting a new fic immediately after. It might take a few days, but I have a million ideas that've been festering in my head for the last few...month. xD So I'm really looking forward to getting them on paper. But just to know which one should go first...would you guise rather see Axel as a creepy step-dad (lemons galore!) or as a dance rehab teacher (lemons, fluff, less angst than the first one)? Lemme know!

~Sara


	22. Chapter 21

"What you all have to understand," The blonde attorney concluded, looking at each one of the jury members individually. "Is that this boy went through hell for nearly _four years_, having to endure not only being torn from his family, but raped, beaten, and psychologically tortured. He had his life stolen away from him because this man here decided that he needed some money. Thank-you."

She nodded and walked back over to her seat, glancing reassuringly at Roxas before turning to face the judge as well as the jury. The defense attorney, a tall, grey haired man who looked like he was never built to wear a suit, stood up and walked over to the jury.

"ADA _Vershvovski_," The attorney began, putting extra emphasis on the blonde's last name. "Is trying to make you each believe that my client, Reno Russo, is guilty of kidnapping this young boy, raping him, beating him, and torturing his mind. However, what evidence does she have? No fingerprints, no DNA…hardly any witnesses. All she has is the testament of a young, traumatized boy who has shunned his family and broken off relations with all of his friends. _She has no real proof_."

He stood in front of the jury panel for a moment as if to make sure his words sunk in, leaving Roxas glaring and scoffing at his words. His attorney leaned over and put her lips next to his ear, smiling.

"Don't worry about him, kid." She whispered. "He's a court appointed attorney. Totally in it for the money. He could care less what happens to this jackass. Plus, they have such a weak argument. I have _you_."

"Larxene!" Roxas hissed. "That's not what I'm concerned about! Are you going to be able to put this guy in jail or not?"

"Of course I am." She said, smirking. "Really too bad your last lawyer chickened out, though. It would've been nice to have someone sitting second chair."

"Why? Because you're incapable?" Roxas practically sneered the words, but Larxene replied with a harsh, yet quiet, chuckle.

"Please. Man sex over there couldn't win a case if his life depended on it."

"Man sex?"

"His name is Xemnas, but everyone just calls him--"

"Miss Vershvovski!" The judge practically cried, looking rather appalled. "If I'm not interrupting your extensive conversation with your client, do you think I might be allowed to ask you if you're ready to proceed?"

Larxene looked at him quickly and smiled insincerely, nodding. "_Of course_, Your Honor. I'm _so _sorry for interrupting."

"Call you first witness." He grumbled, glancing around the courtroom for someone else to yell at. Roxas almost felt like smirking; Larxene was the perfect lawyer for him in this situation. All she did was come in, ask Roxas if he was sure in his implication in Reno, asked for a recount of the story, and began building her case. She didn't waste time, and she didn't take crap from anyone.

There were quite a few witnesses that she wanted to call in order to prove that Reno was guilty. Apparently, Xemnas had been wrong; she had quite the list of witnesses that had seen Roxas being abducted. They said that they had in fact seen a redhead with wild hair, that he had in fact lured Roxas into the car.

The blonde produced evidence that said that Reno was the owner of a one powder Chevy, early model. The witnesses said yes, they _did_ see Roxas get abducted in that car. They couldn't be sure about any details like decals, license plate number, or anything like they, but they definitely remembered that the car was a powder blue Chevy, and that there was a redhead with wild hair driving it.

Larxene produced evidence that said Reno's current position could not be accounted for at the time of the kidnapping. He wasn't at work, because he didn't have a job. One of his friends named Pence came forward and said that they were together at the time, but given the fact that his testimony was taken while he was tripping on LSD, his credibility was shot. Everything was going…

"…according to plan." Larxene finished. "_You, _Mr. Russo, kidnapped Mr. DuPont. _You_ set up the time when you were supposed to meet your partners at the motel. When they didn't arrive, _you_ raped my client. _You_ beat him. _You_--"

"Objection, Your Honor!" Xemnas said, glaring at Larxene. "She's clearly badgering the witness."

"I'll allow it." The judge said after a few moments of consideration, and Larxene glared daggers so sharp at Xemnas that Roxas was surprised cuts didn't magically appear on his face and body.

"Very well, then. Your Honor, I'd like to call a rebuttal witness." She stuck her nose in the air proudly, and the judge blinked once or twice.

"And who might your rebuttal witness be, Miss Vershvovski?"

"Roxas DuPont, Your Honor."

Roxas could've sworn that everyone in the courtroom gasped. The jurors looked taken aback, the witnesses gasped, the defense gave an ignorant snort…and he smiled. Here, he would have an opportunity to tell it as it was. Or at least…for the most part. So long as he could remember to replace all of the 'Axel's with 'Reno's, then he would be okay. Or if he could remember to use 'Mr. Russo' all the time.

"Miss Vershvovski, are you sure that you want to do that? With you're client's fragile emotional state…" He glanced at Roxas, unsure, before looking back at Larxene. She was still grinning proudly as she nodded.

"Yes, Your Honor. I'm quite confident that he will be able to give a valid and reliable testimony."

"Very well, then. Mr. DuPont…?"

Roxas let his smile disappear, trying to look as unsure as he could. Apparently there had been rumors circulating that he had a very fragile state of mind, given what had happened to him. He wasn't thinking straight. These rumors were, obviously, started by Sora, who was currently sitting in the courtroom beside Roxas's parents, trying to pretend that nothing had happened.

He stood up and walked over to the witness stand, all eyes on him. By the time that he was sitting down, the nervousness that he had tried to convince the court of was real. He hated being the center of attention, regardless of the fact that it was "for a good cause." Axel had known that…Axel had known that he hated it when everyone was paying attention to him.

The bailiff walked over with a Bible, and Roxas almost couldn't hear him go through the proceedings of swearing him in, his thoughts completely consumed by Axel. Regardless of what the blonde did, he couldn't get that dumb, back-stabbing redhead out of his mind. He couldn't forget Axel, nor could he forget how much he wanted to hate Axel for what he did…yet now he sat there protecting him.

"…so help you God?"

"I do." He didn't even need to listen to the entire oath. It was very simple, really. Roxas didn't believe in God, so he felt no guilt in the massive lie that was about to pass through his lips. He saw Larxene come toward him, saw her hands folded behind her back, and practiced the exercise that she taught him; the courtroom disappeared, and it was just her and him. No one else.

"Mr. DuPont," She began, and the words echoed through Roxas's head. It took him a moment to realize that she was actually talking to him, he was so deeply consumed with his massive wave of feeling. "I am going to ask you to do something very difficult. Can you tell me your story, from the beginning?"

Roxas paused for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, I think I can do that."

"Very well. Please begin."

He paused again, thinking. _Don't say it…_He reminded himself. _Axel has never existed. Reno took me, Reno hurt me. Reno, Reno, Reno. Not Axel. Reno._ "I was walking home from school when he drove up next to me." He started.

"He asked me if I was interested in his car. It was a…powder blue, 1967 Chevy Chevelle; a beautiful car. I've always wanted one, event though I couldn't drive. He said he was selling it, and it was only 3k. Naturally, I jumped on the offer.

"He said that he would give me a ride come in my new car, because I couldn't drive. It was blazing hot, and the car was a convertible and it had air conditioning…I was inside it before I even really had a chance to think about what I was doing.

"I didn't realize what was going on, that he was kidnapping me, until he missed the road for my house and took me on an exit to the super mall. He got me new clothes…colored contacts…he wanted to be sure that no one would recognize me. My father is very rich and very powerful…the risk of someone noticing me was high."

Roxas sighed and shook his head, looked up. He looked at Reno, and could see immediately how easy it would be for someone to mix them up. They had that same, crazy red hair, the same tall and thin build, the same emerald green eyes. The only difference was that when Roxas locked eyes with Reno, he saw nothing.

He was reminded of how Axel looked at him, after the Stockholm Syndrome had set in, after Roxas decided that it would be best for them to fall in love. He could remember all too clearly the happy feeling he got when Axel would look into his eyes, his expression full of love and affection. The kind of expression that said, 'Your word is my command,' or 'I'll do anything for you. Anything.'

Reno's eyes were blank. His expression said that he had almost expected this to happen. He didn't look angry, he didn't look surprised, he didn't look upset. He just…looked. Blindly. His unblinking eyes didn't see Roxas, they saw the boy that was going to put him in jail. His numb body didn't feel the courtroom, it felt a group of people that hated him with every ounce of their being for what he was being accused of.

Roxas looked at Reno and tried to send the simplest message to the redhead he could: 'I'm in love with your twin.' There was no way for him to downplay it, there was no way for him to deny it. Axel was the person he loved, the person he would always love, the person who had loved him. And without Axel, Roxas was incomplete.

The blonde took this realization which had been harbored in his mind for days, weeks after Axel had left him, and put it in the forefront of his mind. It gave him courage. It gave him _hope_. Roxas took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and thought of Axel as he said, "What happened next is very simple to explain, really."

--

"Has the jury reached a verdict?"

"We have, Your Honor."

"And how do you find?"

"On the charge of one count of kidnap in the first degree, we find the defendant, Reno Russo, guilty. On the charge of one count unlawful imprisonment in the first degree, we find the defendant, Reno Russo, guiltily. On the charge of rape in the first degree, we find the defendant guilty."

Roxas let his head fall against his chest as he smiled, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Larxene almost laughed, clapping the little blonde on the back and standing up to shake hands with Xemnas. Roxas was happy, yes. But the happiness was greatly overweighed by the numbness.

His mind had passed out of his body as he was picked up and led out of the courtroom, as he walked into the hallway. Larxene suggested to his parents and to Sora that they waited for a few moments, so that Roxas would have a few moments to adjust before he had to face the press.

However, Larxene, being a women of business, wanted to settle up her fines with Roxas's parents immediately. She wanted to be paid, and she wanted to be paid _right now_. She drew them aside, talking in a low voice, leaving Roxas alone with Sora.

"So, how do you feel?" Sora asked. The question wasn't sincere in the least, and Roxas wondered why the brunette had felt it even necessary to show up.

"Satisfied." Roxas replied shortly, breaking out of his daydreaming, giving Sora the most flat look he could manage.

"You feel satisfied? Even knowing that the man you love his behind bars for kidnapping, imprisoning, and raping you?" Sora was sneering, and the expression didn't suit his normally innocent face. Roxas hated it.

"The man I love isn't behind bars." The blonde whispered. He fixed his eyes on the window behind Sora's head where a multitude of reporters were waiting anxiously to talk to Roxas, headlines of 'guilty' already being written and published for tomorrow's news.

"Well where is he then?"

"I…" Roxas stopped, the uncomfortable lump in his throat making itself known immediately. "I don't know."

"What, doesn't he _care_ about you enough to tell you where he is?" Sora kept on sneering, obviously not getting the hint as Roxas glared defensively at him. "Doesn't he _love_ you?"

Roxas looked at his former boyfriend for a little while, thinking over his options. He glanced at the reporters, he glanced at his parents. He glanced back into the courtroom, glanced around the hallway. Finally, he pushed past Sora and headed to the door.

"Hey! Aren't you going to answer me, _Roxy_?"

Roxas stopped and sighed, turning around, his expression sad, tears so close to streaming down his cheeks. "If you really cared about me," He whispered. "You wouldn't do this."

With that he pushed the door open, a million voices coming at him at once. They were all asking him questions, calling him 'Roxas' and 'Mister DuPont' and all sorts of strange things, each trying to shove a microphone or a camera in his face all at the same time. But Roxas had already chosen to detach his mind from his body.

He was laying down with Axel in their motel, cuddling up against the redhead's warm side. He could almost feel the heat radiating off of his lover, feel his strong arm wrapped around Roxas's shoulder, smell his unique scent coming off of his chest. His eyes were tearing up and, after a moment, began spilling over his cheeks, blurring his vision.

It was because of this that he didn't see the black Mercedes pull up in front of the court room with the stolen plates. He didn't see the redhead who looked so out of place in the high-class vehicle. He didn't see that redhead staring at him with the most guilty, most longing expression on his face.

Even if he had, though, none of it would have mattered. Roxas's couldn't have possible gone running from the courtroom and flown into Axel's arms. He couldn't have hugged Axel's body close against his and known that everything was going to be okay, even when it wasn't. He couldn't have whispered gentle things in Axel's ear, and delighted in the dirty things that Axel whispered back.

He just stood there, looking at the reporters with a confused absentness in his expression, numb. In that moment, there was only one thing that mattered; the ordeal was over, and Axel was safe. It didn't matter that Roxas didn't know where he was, because wherever he was, he was safe.

* * *

**A/N:** Mkay. So. This the LAST CHAPTER. I can't believe it. ;D Don't fret, however. There's still the EPIClogue that I have to write. That's probably going to be up no later than Monday...I finally got the second book of the Vampire Chronicals out of the library (yay for team Lestat...) so I'm probably going to be pretty obsessed with that for the next day or so.

LARXENE IS RUSSIAN! BWAHAHAHA!!! Seriously though. Doesn't she just seem like she would make the perfect Russian? She's mean and scary. I mean, come ON people. xDDD And Mansex is a defense attorney. I would've made it all one word (mansex instead of man sex) but stupid Microsoft wouldn't let me, and I've already screwed up my dictionary with all of the KH names. ^^; Ohhhhhh weelllll~

So yeah. Be on the look out for the epiclogue. After that, the story will be officially over. Then you all will have to be on the look out for my next fics. xD I'm still debating which one I'm going to do...even though I'm pretty sure it's going to be the dance-rehab teacher thingy ma bob. I mean, I've put way much more thought into that...

Like you guise care about my reasoning. xDDD See you at the epilogue!

~Sara


	23. Epilogue

**June 20****th**

"Doctor?" A tall redhead poked her head through the office door, her bangs falling in her face. "There's someone here who says that they need to see you immediately."

"Do they have an appointment?" The blonde asked, not even looking up from his rigorous typing to ask the question. One hand was moving furiously along the keyboard, the other holding a cup of coffee that was cooled down to cold about two hours ago.

"No but…he says it's very important that he sees you."

"Well you're just going to tell him that he's going to have to schedule an appointment." The blonde replied. "I don't have time for random visits. Three of the Porter family are going to be here in ten minutes, and I'm going to have to tell them that their daughter is no longer in remission."

"But Doctor…" She sighed and stepped in the room, closing the door behind her. "Roxas, he looks kind of desperate. I mean, he says he thinks he might have cancer…"

"Then apparently he didn't read the plaque on the front door that read, _Roxas DuPont: Pediatric Oncologist_. It's not my fault that he's illiterate. Tell him to make an appointment."

The redhead nodded and sighed, walking back out into the hallway. Faintly, Roxas could hear her saying 'Sorry sir, you're going to have to schedule an appointment…' but all thoughts of that were banished as a young, five-year-old girl and her two parents walked into his office.

She eagerly sat herself down on one of the plush chairs that was placed in there, and her parents hovered behind her. "Good afternoon, Doctor." Her father muttered, nodding.

Roxas smiled. "Good afternoon. How is everyone today?" He made a point to look at the girl, who was smiling and bouncing up and down on the squishy chair, clutching the little stuffed bear that Roxas had given her months ago.

"Good." She answered, looking at her parents, who just smiled nervously.

"So…how's everything looking?" Her mother asked, picking the girl up and sitting her on her lap, her father sitting down in the second plush chair. "Will she be able to go back to school?"

Roxas's smile didn't falter for a second, but he was sure that the words that were forming on his lips caused a little part of him to die inside. "Actually, I wanted to talk about that…"

He saw both of the Porter parents' smiles falter before Mom shook her head and raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure what you mean about that. Certainly it's not…?"

Roxas let his smile fade and leaned forward, sighing. "It seems…well, we did another biopsy after the surgery and the chemo to make sure that there were no more cancerous cells." He said. "We took several blood tests, and, from what we saw, there were no more cells."

"Right." Dad chipped in, nodding. "You said that she was in remission and should be able to go back to school soon. Right?"

Roxas nodded. "Right, but the thing with cancer is…well, with your daughter's particular type of cancer, it's become resistant to many of the forms of treatment that we've tried. So that means that if we missed even one or two cells during the surgery or if the chemo didn't get some, then they would be free to multiply until we noticed the same symptoms."

"…Right." Mom said. "I don't see what the problem is."

"Well, the problem is…" Roxas put his coffee cup down, which he just noticed he was still holding in his hand, and folded his hands under his chin with a sigh. "We missed some. I don't know how, but we did. And when you called in," He indicated Mom, who looked like someone had just shattered her world. "And told us about some new symptoms that had arisen--"

"No." She muttered. "No, Doctor, _Roxas_--"

"Larxene, I'm sorry." He sighed and looked between his old friend and her knew husband and their daughter, his eyes sad. "But at this stage, given the type of cancer it is…I'm sorry."

Tears were welling up in both of the parents' eyes, and the child was looking between them with a look of pure confusion on her face. "But Roxas," Larxene finally breathed. "You're the best of the best. There's _got_ to be something you can do!"

Roxas just sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry."

Finally Dad spoke up, clearing his throat a few times to save himself from the embarrassment of his voice cracking or breaking. "How long?"

The blonde shrugged. "Three, maybe six months at the most."

Both parents absolutely broke down, the girl looking between them with even more confusion than before. She looked frantically at Roxas to know what was going on, then frantically at her parents to try to find an answer there.

**August 18****th**

The blonde combed his hands through his hair, another soft sob tearing through his chest, tears streaming down his eyes. His cardigan was all over the place, his pants were askew and his hair was a mess.

His therapist, who's slate grey-blue hair was picture perfect, his clothes as angular as though they had just come from the dry cleaner's, just watched him patiently, legs crossed, hands folded underneath his chin.

"I mean…" He shuddered, closing his eyes. "Zexion, have you ever had to tell someone that their little, five-year-old girl wasn't going to live to see her sixth birthday? And a close friend, nonetheless?"

The bluenette shook his head. "No, I haven't. However, I have had to deal with the aftermath of such a thing. And generally I get to see what you don't have the stamina to handle."

"Yeah, that makes me feel really good." Roxas said sarcastically. "What a pair we are. I'm here to tell them that their child is going to die, and you're here to help them get over it because I can't deal with it. Yay for us."

Zexion sighed and tossed his clipboard to the side, having not written anything on it for Roxas's last five or six sessions. "Let's change the subject. How's your personal life going?"

"The same it's been going for the last eleven years." Roxas said, a little more sharply than he hand intended. "Reno's going to be released in nine years. Assuming he doesn't get an appeal. Which he won't."

"And what of Reno's twin?" Zexion asked gently. "Anything about him?"

Roxas laughed humorlessly. "You ask as though you don't already know the answer." The blonde stopped talking for a short moment before he continued. "It's the same as it's always been. Compulsively checking the tabloids, my email, the mail from my old house address…"

"And?"

"The same as it was last week, love." Roxas said, chuckling. "But he hasn't felt it necessary to contact me once in the last eleven years, so I don't know why he should start now."

"I think you're being unfairly cynical." Zexion muttered. He removed his reading glasses and rubbed his temples, glanced at the clock.

"I thought you hate him." Roxas asked. He raised and eyebrow and sat back up, leaning against the back of the overly padded chair he was sitting in.

"I do. But I also hate seeing you upset. And being this cynical is upsetting you. Therefore, I have to weigh which one I hate more, which would be the latter, so I can temporarily forget how much I hate him to try to make you feel better." He smiled and Roxas and cleared his throat, leaned forward. "Sorry Rox, but you're time is up."

"Oh. Damn." Roxas, too, glanced at the clock, noticing that it was already four in the evening, and stood up. "Are we still on for dinner tonight?"

"Of course." Zexion smiled up at his friend from behind his desk yet again, his eyes trying to push Roxas out the door before the inevitable words could exit his lips.

"You're bringing Lexaeus." Roxas sang, grinning just before he passed through the threshold of the door. The bluenette groaned, let his head fall in defeat.

"Why? It'll make him uncomfortable."

"Well it shouldn't." Roxas's bad mood seemed to have passed quickly, his arms crossed like a stubborn child. Which, in retrospect, he was. "It's not like I'm a _bitter_ ex. Just…an ex."

Zexion waved a dismissive hand, and Roxas passed through the doorway, calling as he left, "He'd better be there!"

**October 8****th**

"Alright, Doctor DuPont!" The teacher called, pointing at Roxas. "Introduce yourself to me."

Roxas sighed and cleared his throat, forming the words in his mind. "Hallo. Mein name ist Roxas. Ich bin ein Arzt. Ich freue mich, Sie kennen zu lernen. Sie sprechen Englisch?"

The teacher nodded, glanced at Zexion and Lexaeus, the second of the two looking very uncomfortable in the German class. "Doctor DuPont's friend who's name I can't remember! Tell me what he just said."

Zexion sighed and shook his head, leaning back. "Hello. My name is Roxas. I am a doctor. I am glad to meet you. Do you speak English?"

"Sehr gut! Now, I want you both to get to at least page 150 by next week, because I'm taking my wife on vacation to the Bahamas and I don't have to worry about your lack of knowledge in the German language while I'm there. Get it?"

"Got it." Both of the students muttered, gathering up their German books.

"Good."

**December 2****nd**** , 11:30 a.m.**

"Doctor?"

"Ja?" Roxas looked up from the charts of his latest patient, grinning. His redheaded secretary chuckled softly at the practiced German words and gestured towards the waiting room.

"That guy is here."

"What guy?"

"The one with the appointment."

Roxas laughed. "Sorry hun, you're going to have to narrow it down for me. Which one of my male patients is in the waiting room who has an appointment coming up…now?"

"He's not one of your patients." She said. "He's the guy who kept coming in here without an appointment until he finally realized that he had to schedule one. So he scheduled it for now."

"I think this might be running into my lunch date with Zexion and his new boyfriend." Roxas said, sighing softly. "What did he schedule it for?"

The secretary blushed softly, clearing her throat. "Prostate exam."

Roxas blinked and leaned back, shrugging. "Alright then. Send him in."

The events that followed those words happened in such a strange sequence that Roxas wasn't really sure what happened first and what happened last. But a few things that he definitely remembered were his secretary calling the man in. Roxas had fixed his gaze on his computer screen and was checking his email for the fifth time that day. He did, however, remember exactly the dialogue that occurred.

As soon as the patient walked into the room, Roxas sighed. "Sir, you are aware that I specialize in the diagnosis of cancer in children, correct?"

"Yeah, I read that on the plaque, thanks." Roxas furrowed his brow, but still didn't look up. There was a suspicious-looking email from his mother, who he hadn't talked to in years, with a suspicious-looking subject. He wanted to open it, but hated being rude to his patient.

"I'm sorry, but if you want I can give you a recommendation to a great oncologist I know--"

"That's fine, thanks." The person muttered. Roxas thought that there was something vaguely familiar about his voice, but the message from his mother was far more interesting than a memory trying to break to the surface of his conscious mind. "I've heard that you're the best of the best."

"I'm very flattered, sir, but--"

"Jesus _Christ_, Roxas! Will you stop calling me that?"

The blonde's finger froze on the scroll button, his eyes not seeing the screen that they were trained on, his mouth moving to form a perfect 'o.' He daren't turn his head to see who the visitor was; it wasn't possible. If this was a dream, he risked heartache. If it wasn't a dream, his risked heartache. Yet it was all so hard to believe.

"Oh God. I haven't like, put you into shock, have I?" Roxas was vaguely aware of the person walking up to the front of the desk and watching him closely. It took a moment, but the rest of the world finally swam back into view and Roxas remembered that yes, he could control his body.

The blonde felt a soft finger hook under his chin and turn his head to the person he couldn't bear to look at but who he wanted to see so desperately. And, believe it or not, there stood Axel, red, disheveled hair and all. His eyes expression his honest concern, and in them Roxas could see a mirror image of his own shock.

He closed his mouth, gave Axel a quick once-over. If he didn't know that Axel was eleven years older, the only give-away would be the thin, almost imperceptible lines that had formed around the redhead's mouth and forehead. His green eyes still had that same spark, his red hair still unbelievably vivid.

After that everything pretty much turned into a blur. Roxas remembered standing up, he remembered that there had been shouting and cursing and yelling and at one point his secretary had come running in, and he knew that all of it had ended with Axel encircling him tightly in his arms, both of them crying, Roxas delighting in the familiar scent of a long passed lover.

**December 2****nd****, 1:42 p.m.**

"Oh God…" Roxas breathed, each memory of the amazing feeling of Axel inside of him having rushed back in a delicious wave of emotion. He tossed his head back, his bangs plastered to his forehead with sweat, his arms pulling tightly against the restraints that held his wrists. "Axel…"

"Mm, Roxy," Axel purred in the blonde's ear, pouting. "You don't make as much noise as you used to."

"The neighbors aren't really into that. Sorry." Roxas breathed, tossing his head back seconds later as Axel found the sweet spot inside him and began abusing it mercilessly. He moaned deeply, nails digging into his palms, Axel's lips teasing the sensitive spot on his neck.

"And you're more experienced." Axel observed, that pout still in place. "Who's loved you other than me?"

"The boyfriend that I had in between--ah!" He broke of mid-sentence and cried out, Axel's hands and lips and teeth and tongue bringing Roxas all sorts of guilty pleasures.

The redhead sighed and chuckled, ceasing teasingly in his thrusting to look at Roxas, who's body was coated in a layer of sweat. His hair was plastered to his forehead, his skin was flushed, his chest was heaving. "I missed you, Roxy."

"Why did you wait so long to…come…back?" Roxas asked, sucking in a few deep breathes here and there in an attempt to regain and normal breathing pattern before Axel started up again.

"I was afraid you wouldn't want me anymore." Axel answered, sighing. "But I got over that. Because I missed you too much. And you've been in the news for all the great stuff you do for kids with cancer. I guess I just wanted to stake my claim once more."

Roxas chuckled and looked up at the ceiling, shaking his head. "You really haven't changed a bit, have you?"

"Mm, not at all." Axel started up with his hips again, pushing himself as deeply into Roxas as either of their bodies would allow, ecstasy consuming the both of them.

It didn't take very long before all conversation had ceased and the only sounds that could be heard were those of both of them panting, Roxas moaning, along with the bed frame (he had a Tempurpedic mattress so there were no springs that could moan along with them as well).

Roxas had tossed his head back, raw pleasure coursing through his veins, Axel's name constantly on his lips. The redhead, too, seemed to be enjoying this just as much as his little lover; he grunted with each of the rough thrusts, moaning some sort of deep and guttural moan as he came inside of the other, Roxas not too far behind.

**December 3****rd**

Roxas blinked his eyes open and turned over, a smile playing on his lips, only to disappear when he found the other side of the bed empty. Immediately, his mind starting forming a million excuses that sent him back to the frightening place he had been when he was seventeen; Axel was gone, Axel had left him…maybe Axel had never been there in the first place.

He started panicking. He hated the way his heart rate increased, his breathing sped up, his body frantically began searching for the warmth that it had known mere hours before.

Then, before he had a chance to really freak out, he heard something that let him laugh and relax. The quiet flush of his Swedish-made, top-of-the-line toilet, followed by the soft squeaking of the hinges on the door that led to the bathroom. Axel emerged from the room, bruises coloring his bare beck and shoulders and hips, red bite marks on his chest and thighs.

Roxas blushed deeply and sank back into his memory-foam mattress, Axel sliding in next to him, pulling the blonde tightly against his chest. Roxas knew that Axel knew that he was awake, but the redhead didn't say a word. Just held Roxas close to him and let his lover's breathing and heartbeat relax him back into the paralyzing sleep that he had woken up from.

Roxas closed his eyes, perfectly content, his hand sliding up to rest softly on Axel's shoulder. The redhead reached up and held Roxas's hand gently in his own, pressed his face in the shock of blonde hair, cradled Roxas's small body against his toned chest and broad shoulders. And Roxas allowed himself to fall back asleep, knowing as he did that everything would finally be okay.

* * *

**A/N: **I can't believe it's finally over! D8 I mean, it had to end, but this is just sad. xD I'm going to miss getting your awesomesauce reviews, guise! I mean, you guise have to be the best reviewers ever. They're all so nice and stuff...'cept for the flames. But I all but completely forgot about those. But let's talk about the story.

I love the way this ended. I've been thinking about this ending for weeks...and I think I nailed it. ;D I hope you guise agree. I really wanted to make you happy with this one. Ah...I love Axel. xDD He's so cute. And Roxy was all like, 'D i hate you, but i want you to screw me anyway 8D' and...yeah. We love him. xDDD

Next will most likely be the fic where Axel ends up teaching Roxas to dance, so be on the look out for it! The title with either be Checked our Mutuus Attractionis. Whichever. Probably the first one. xDDD But I hope you guise liked that.

Lastly, I have one final contest for everyone who's been following this story. In a few days I'm going to upload, AS A SEPARATE DOCUMENT, probably part of the Amber: Vignette, the playlist from this story. Anyone who can guess at least three of Axel's songs and three of Roxas's songs OR six of Roxas's songs gets a free request. You don't have to do both, you can just do either or. So...yeah. I hope you guise liked the story!

Love,  
~Sara


	24. Playlist

During Kidnapping:

Teenagers - My Chemical Romance

Never Too Late - Three Days Grace

From Yesterday - 30 Seconds to Mars

Bad Romance - Lady GaGa

During Relationship:

I Want You To Want Me - Cheap Trick

Sí Te Amo - Taxi Amarillo (**Translation: **Yes, I love you - Yellow Taxi)

Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations

Fashionable People - Joel Plasket Emergency

Every Time We Touch - Cascada

I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Fall For You - Secondhand Serenade

My Life Would Suck Without You - Kelly Clarkson

After Kidnapping:

You Found Me - The Fray

Over You - Daughtry

My Immortal - Evanescence

5 Days In May - Blue Rodeo

Numb - Linkin Park

Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.

Livin' On A Prayer - Bon Jovi

Bed of Roses - Bon Jovi

Leave Out All the Rest - Linkin Park

Now, everyone, I'm going to give you a song to get you all started. This song I decided to give to Axel because he's German and we all love him. XD If you don't know any of the songs, just Google the lyrics. Have fun!

99 Luftballons - Nena


	25. Extra

"So…" Roxas cleared his throat and sat down on the couch in the millionth dumpy motel where he had been forced to stay, glancing at Axel out of the corner of his eye every now and then.

"So?"

"You know what today is?"

Axel glanced up from his laptop with his eyes wide and shut the lid immediately, put it on the coffee table in front of him. "Oh my God. I forgot your birthday. I'm so sorry."

Roxas turned his full attention on the redhead and watched him for a second, and they stared at each other in comfortable silence. "Um…no. This is July, Axel. My birthday isn't in July."

"Oh. Okay then." Axel opened up his laptop again and continued whatever he was doing, and Roxas sighed. The only downside of being a captive (other than the fact that he wasn't allowed to see his family or friends _or_ go to school; not that any of that mattered, because he was in love with his captor) was that he had no control of what he did. Ever.

"Its July Fourth." He smiled and scooted over on the couch, rested his chin on Axel's shoulder, and noticed that the aforementioned captor was surfing their page on the America's Most Wanted website.

"Oh? That's good."

"You know…" Roxas murmured, sighing again and slowly pushing down the lid of the laptop for a second time. "Elmhurst does this thing on the lakes, where they shoot the fireworks out over them. Its supposed to be really pretty, because you can see the reflection of the fireworks in the water."

Axel gave his young lover a flat look and raised his eyebrows. "You want to go, don't you?"

"It's at nine o'clock and we're like, right by Lake Michigan. It would be so much fun, and it would be romantic, and we could eat and drink and have fun…" Roxas pecked Axel on the cheek and smiled. "Please?"

"Mm…" Axel closed his eyes and slid his arm around Roxas's waist. "What time is it now?"

"Uh…six."

"Oh dear." He opened his eyes again and glanced around the room. "What do we have to eat? And drink?"

"Nothing. You refuse to go grocery shopping, and you won't let me go by myself. We eat out literally every single night." Roxas sighed. "I guess we can go to like, Taco Bell or something, get some snack food there…maybe Burger King…"

"Shut up. You're making me hungry."

"Sorry. So can we go?"

Axel blew out a long breath and began tapping his foot in that annoying way he did when he didn't want to make a decision, hugging Roxas almost uncomfortably close to his own body. "I…guess so…"

"Yay!" Roxas leaned forward and gave Axel another quick kiss, this time on the nose, stood up, and ran into the disgustingly dirty kitchen. "I'll start making a list!"

"Its warm."

"Uh, yeah, because I'm holding about as close as humanly possible and we've got two blankets on top of us." Axel chuckled and buried his face in Roxas's hair, glanced at the clock on the dashboard, and noticed that it read 8:40.

"This is true…"

"They should be starting soon."

Roxas glanced over across the dark lake and sighed, falling back into Axel's firm chest. "Yup. Twenty minutes or so."

"Very good Roxy!" Axel leaned up and grinned. "I'm so glad; this means that I can take that Second Grade Subtraction book that I bought for you back to the book store! Oh, you're so smart."

"That's mean." Roxas narrowed his eyes and started pouting, and Axel, in response, just laughed.

"It is not. You're just sensitive. Come here."

"I am here."

"Oh, see how smart you are? Two steps ahead of me." Axel smiled again and shifted Roxas's position on top of him so that the blonde was straddling his hips, pulled him into a close kiss.

"Yum." Roxas breathed, smiling and trailing his tongue across Axel's lower lip. "You taste like candy."

"Mm…what kind of candy?"

"Let's see…" Roxas parted his lips, and Axel invited himself in for another kiss. Gently, he traced the shape of Roxas's mouth with his tongue, and Roxas slid his own appendage into the redhead's mouth.

They kissed each other, pressing their mouths hard against each other's, and when they parted, each panting, Roxas was smiling. "Like Lemon Heads. You taste like Lemon Heads."

"Okay, what does that mean…" Axel looked up and pretended he was thinking, then smiled. "Okay. Well, 'lemon' is fangirl gay sex, and 'head' is what you're going to give me in a few minutes."

Roxas laughed and hid his face against Axel's neck, his chest moving with his soft giggles. "You are so dirty."

"You're kidding? God, I _just_ showered before we left. Damned motel bathrooms…"

"Please." Roxas leaned back and rested his hands on Axel's knees, effectively pushing his hips against the other's. "You know what I mean."

"No, Roxy." Axel purred. "I'm not sure I do. But you could explain it to me if you want." He smiled deviously and leaned against the inside of the car door (the burnt orange Jeep Wrangler that he had stolen a few days ago; because no other color would suffice).

"Oh God…" Roxas smiled and blushed lightly, glanced out across the lake. "Well, you know…"

"Or, if its to hard to explain, you could just _show_ me…"

The minute the words had passed his lips, Roxas knew what Axel was aiming for. Of course the other male had been smiling at him, staring at him like Roxas was a 12 oz. beef tenderloin (Axel's favorite dish).

"Are you a sex addict?" He asked, leaning forward and raising his eyebrows.

"No, I'm a Roxas DuPont addict." Axel replied, sticking his tongue out. "Now, if you don't mind, would you please fulfill my prophecy?"

"I don't think so." Roxas answered, returning the same devious smile. "However, if you don't mind taking off your shirt, I think we might be able to work out some kind of deal."

Axel hesitated for a moment, but after another glance from Roxas quickly shed the clothes that were protecting the upper half of his body. Before beginning, Roxas had to drink in the sight like he did almost each time they were together; Axel's toned muscles, his hard chest, tight abs…

"Axel, why do you have to be so delicious?" He purred. With that he leaned forward and began sucking on the junction between Axel's neck and shoulder, but wasn't just satisfied there. He began moving downward, running his tongue down the center of Axel's chest, down to his navel, and back up again.

"Ah…Roxy, that feels good…"

"Oh, really?" Roxas chuckled and navigated over to the left side of Axel's chest, running his tongue over his nipple. It was salty and cold from the wind blowing in from the lake, but under the heat of Roxas's tongue it swelled and became more plump.

"Are you aroused yet, Axel?" He purred, digging his knee into the crotch of Axel's cargo shorts.

"You tell me." The redhead gasped, and Roxas chuckled darkly.

"I think you are."

"Are you planning on doing something about it?"

"Hmm…" Roxas pulled back and put his finger to his lips like he was thinking, eyes narrowed. "I don't know. Do you think I should? I mean, I _could_ make you suffer through the fireworks, wait until we get back to the motel…"

"Roxas, no way." Axel, too, narrowed his eyes, but much less playfully. "If you don't that, I so swear you will never see your parents again."

"You know, right now that isn't sounding like much of a bad thing."

"Oh God…" Axel groaned and leaned his head back, and as he did so Roxas chuckled and began unbuttoning his pants.

"I guess I'll take mercy on you…"

Axel gasped when his erection met the cold air, but it didn't last long; Roxas's mouth quickly shielded him from the wind, his tongue quickly stimulating the pleasure that it was expecting.

"Ah…Roxy…mm…"

Roxas chuckled with Axel's "business" still in his mouth, which earned him a soft moan from above and a thrust of Axel's hips into his mouth. He pulled away quickly, coughed, and glared playfully up.

"Careful…" He breathed. "You wouldn't want me gagging or choking or anything while I'm sucking on you."

"True…"

Roxas smiled and sat up, and Axel gave him a disappointed look. "What? Why? Keep going."

"I have something better in mind." Roxas answered softly. He got up on his knees and unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, pulling them down, along with his boxers, to his knees.

"…Oh."

Roxas inched himself up so that he was hovering just above his lover's fully erect "business," leaned down on his shoulders, and took on of his hands. Without saying a word, just smiling broadly, and took three fingers of said hand into his mouth and began sucking on them harder than he had before, ran his tongue along each bump and crevice, wetting every inch.

"Yeah…I understand now…" Axel breathed. Roxas just opened his eyes, continued sucking, bobbing his head on the spidery-long digits. "I think they're ready."

The blonde sighed through his nose and pulled back, licking his lips, and smiling up at Axel. "I think you're right."

The redhead smiled and placed the palm of his hand on Roxas's ass, giving in a once over. "One at a time or all at once?"

Before Roxas had a chance to reply the fireworks began, and he looked over at them and smiled. "All at once."

Axel shrugged and moved the three fingers into position, then shoved them all into Roxas's waiting entrance without warning. Roxas's back arched instantly, and he tossed his head back and cried out, the scream drowned by the sound of the fireworks.

"Axel…hah…!"

"Okay, you're ready." Axel decided, pulled the fingers out and sitting Roxas down on his erection, impatience running through him, craving release.

Roxas began riding him instantly, needing release as much as Axel, grinding and moaning and crying out. The fireworks were going off behind him, faster now, the finale coming soon. The _climax_ coming soon.

"Ah…Axel…yes…_yes_!" He rode him harder, arched his back so much so that his stomach was touching Axel's chest, digging his nails into the flesh of the redhead's shoulders. "Yes!"

The fireworks went off in rapid succession, the finale having arrived after what only seemed like a few moments, along with Roxas's orgasm. He ground his hips against Axel's, needing him so much, wanting him deeper and harder and faster…

"Axel…I'm…I'm…!" He cried out, coming messily between them, hearing Axel's moan through the fireworks as he released inside Roxas.

As each of them finished, about ten more fireworks went off, and as Axel watched his captive, his lover, his _love_ lean against his chest in exhaustion and satisfaction, he saw the blues and golds, reds and greens reflecting off the lake, lighting up Roxas's face. The feeling of love and adoration swelled inside him, and he couldn't help but leaned down and press a sincere kiss against Roxas's forehead.

"I love you, Roxy." He whispered. "So, so much…"

"Mm…I love you, too." Roxas whispered back. He opened his eyes, smiled up at Axel, and sighed. "So, so much…"

* * *

**A/N: **Happy Fourth of July, everyone. ^^


End file.
